The Huelva metallurgical complex, covering an area of 60 hectares, is positioned as a benchmark in the production of refined copper and in energy and water efficiency.
Metallurgical Complex
Production areas
We are an industrial reference, thanks to our production systems, the innovative operating practices implemented over the years and the use of the best available technologies, as explained in our Quality Policy.
1
Smelting
In our smelter, the concentrated copper ore is processed to obtain, primarily, copper anodes with a copper content of 99.7%. Our anode production capacity is 330,000 t/year. the raw material is separated into its three major components: copper (in the form of anodes), sulfur (as sulfur dioxide, SO2) and iron (as iron silicate).
2
Copper refinery
In the refinery, an electrolysis process is used to refine the copper of the anodes to obtain high purity copper cathodes, with a content of 99.99%. Our refined copper production capacity is 300,000 t/year.
3
Sulfuric acid plants
The Huelva metallurgical complex has three sulfuric acid plants, where we use the sulfur dioxide recovered in the smelting processes to produce sulfuric acid with a concentration of 98.5%. Current production capacity is 1,100,000 metric tons a year.
4
Thermal power plant
The smelter has a thermal power plant whose function is to generate electric energy for our own consumption by recovering heat from our processes.
5
Logistics
We have the logistics infrastructure necessary for the reception of raw materials and the shipping out of end products, by land and sea. To manage this, we use the Port of Huelva’s facilities on the banks of the Odiel river. We have three quays for sulfuric acid loading.
