18 May 2022
Freeport-McMoRan Inc hopes that the new leaching technology to extract copper content in waste rock can develop massively in various parts of the world. Although the copper content in remaining/left-over production is relatively low, when accumulated on a global level at all the existing sites, then the volume amount is considered to be significant.
According to the President of Freeport-McMoRan, Kathleen Quirk, the initiative was rolled out because it saw a trend of rising prices, as well as a surge in copper demand in the world. Copper prices have nearly doubled over the past two years. Said trend is mainly triggered by the growth of the electric vehicle industry. Therefore, the world’s miners are trying to find a faster way to produce metals. “I believe that the people in the industry will work hard on applying/implementing this (leaching). (Because) the amount of copper content is very significant,” Quirk said at the Bank of America Global Metals, Mining & Steel Conference, as quoted Wednesday (5/18).
In conventional mining, the leaching process typically uses acids which are applied to the ore to extract the copper, gold or other metals. The remaining rocks from this process are then stored in a special location as the left-over/rest of the production. Nowadays, global miners are finding new ways to extract more copper from said waste rocks, namely by implementing secondary leaching by using certain bacteria or chemicals.
By using such bacterial, leaching can be made possible to produce copper at concentrations of 0.5%, or lower in an economical way. As a comparison to the conventional process, here generally the concentration level reaches approximately 0.6% to 1% or more. “This is equivalent to building/developing a new mine without having to spend all the capital costs,” Quirk stated.
Kami menghimbau para pencari kerja untuk berhati-hati dan mewaspadai beragam modus penipuan perekrutan yang mengatasnamakan PT Freeport Indonesia. Dalam setiap proses rekrutmen dan penerimaan karyawan, PT Freeport Indonesia maupun konsultan rekruitmennya tidak memungut biaya apapun.
Untuk melihat lowongan, silakan akses melalui link berikut: ptfi e-recruitment
Untuk melihat informasi magang, silakan akses melalui link berikut: Internship Program
