IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING COPPER PROM ORES
Year: 1852

page_text: TRUEMAN AND CAMERON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALFRED
TRUEMAN, of Swansea, Manager of Copper Smelting Works, and JOHN
CAMERON, of Longhor, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Alfred Trueman and John Cameron, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
Alfred Trueman and John Cameron, our exors, adññors, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Alfred Trueman and John Cameron, our exors, adñiors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING COPPER
PROM ORES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the
said Alfred Trueman and John Cameron, or one of us, shall cause a particular

page_text: description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Alfred Trueman and John Cameron, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say:-
In obtaining copper from ores it has long been usual to mix or introduce
oxide ores when obtaining copper from sulphuret ores. It has also been
commonly the practice to add, when fusing calcined coarse metal, some scoria
rich in oxide of copper, and some crusts for the hearth, the oxide in the
scoria being reduced by the affinity of the sulphur in the coarse metal. And
it has also been proposed in the Specification of a former Patent to reduce
regulus or sulphurets of copper by an oxide or carbonate of copper, the
sulphuret being directed to be first fused in the furnace, and the slag removed,
the oxide or carbonate was to be added by degrees, occasionally removing the
slag, then a flux consisting of carbonaceous matter and chloride of calcium
or chloride of barium, was to be gradually introduced. And it was stated that
when the sulphuret contains thirty per cent. of copper, it was preferable to use
an oxide containing a like per-centage of metal, and that then equal quantities
by weight of the two matters would be the proper quantities, in order that
the oxygen should be equivalent to the sulphur; and it was stated, that if the
sulphuret used contained more sulphur a larger proportion of the oxide
compound was to be added, but we believe such process to be of no practical
value, as such a combination and mode of working fail to produce the result
suggested, and the iron present not being provided for, the furnace is quickly
destroyed. We mentioned these previous modes of working in order to state
that although we employ we do not claim generally the use of sulphurets of
copper to act on an oxide or carbonate of copper, in such manner as mutually
to decompose each other, that principle of action under varying circumstances
having before been practised. And we would state that our Invention consists
of the mode of operating hereafter described, whereby not only are the
matters combined in relation to the oxygen and sulphur present, but also in
regard to the iron and silica present, and the use of fluxis containing carbon

page_text: avoided, by which we are enabled, when employing a sulphuret ore of copper,
to act on an oxide or carbonate of copper, to use raw (unfused) sulphuret ore
combined with oxide ores or artificial oxides of copper, and by fusing such
combination to obtain copper or a product very rich of copper combined with
sulphur, free from iron.
And in order that our Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us.
We would, however, remark, that as copper ores differ very largely in their
richness and general composition, it will not be possible to give exact details
which could be followed' in every class of ores, but a workman, from the
instruction given in this Specification, will readily make such variations in
combining the matters as will produce the desired result in all cases.
Supposing the Invention is to be applied when using only sulphuret ores
of copper, one quantity of such ores is to be treated in the following manner:
-Having obtained a regulus (coarse metal) therefrom, as is well understood,
the regulus is to be reduced to a fine powder by grinding or other mechanical
means; and when it is found by analysis to contain material quantities of tin,
antimony, or arsenic, in the state of sulphurets or oxides, we cause such
powder, either before or after calcination, to be boiled in a saturated solution
of caustic alkali.
The powder being well stirred during the boiling, which is continued for
about six hours, the solution is then to be drawn off, and may be used for
further quantities of like powder. The tin and antimony may be separated
from this solution by various means; we prefer to do so by diluting the
solution with water, by which the tin and antimony will be precipitated. This
process of boiling a regulus of copper is useful, whether the old practice of
obtaining copper be pursued or that according to our Invention.
The powdered regulus to be employed according to our Invention, (whether
submitted to the boiling process or not) is to be calcined till all or nearly all
the sulphur is driven off. The artificial oxide of copper thus obtained (or an
artificial oxide may be obtained when rich sulphuret ore, such as Cobre ores,
are used by simply calcining them) is to be removed from the furnace, and
mixed with a certain proportion of sulphuret ore, as hereafter explained, and
it is of the greatest importance in the carrying out of our Invention that not
only should the oxide and sulphuret be combined in certain relations, but that
there should be present a quantity of silica in relation to and to combine with
the quantity of iron present, and that the use of carbon should be avoided,
otherwise the carbon will combine with the oxygen of the copper, and prevent "

page_text: the due combination of that oxygen with the sulphur of the sulphuret ore.
If therefore the ores cannot be adjusted, so as to offer sufficient silica with
reference to the quantity of iron present; (and this is usually the case when
sulphuret ores only are employed when working according to our Invention,)
then a quantity of silex is to be added to the compound of oxide and sulphuret
above mentioned and fused together; this may be done by adding silex, or
what is better, silex mixed with copper, such as broken furnace bottoms
(cobbing). The materials being mixed in proper proportions, a charge (of
about 50 cwt.) is to be placed in a furnace and fused, and at about the end
of five hours from charging the furnace the charge is to be stirred, allowed to
settle, and the slags removed in the usual manner. We find it desirable to
tap only after every second charge, and therefore a second charge is to be
run into the furnace and fused, and after about five hours the materials in the
furnace are to be again stirred and allowed to stand; the slags are to be
removed and the furnace tapped; a very rich compound of copper and sulphur,
free or nearly free from iron, is run off, but, if desired, the same may remain
in the furnace to have the sulphur roasted off, but we prefer to convey it to
another furnace, and roast it for that purpose.
The following will be found to be good combinations to be fused together,
to obtain the full benefits of our Invention:-
Twenty-six parts by weight of calcined powder, whether boiled in alkaline
solution or not, which consists of about forty-seven per cent. of oxide of
copper, and about fifty-three per cent. of peroxide of iron.
Twelve parts by weight of Cobre ore, which consists of about,-
26 per cent. of copper,
26 per cent. of iron,
18 per cent. of silica,
32 per cent. of sulphur.
Twelve parts by weight of cobbing, which consists of about,―
12 per cent. of copper,
72 per cent. of silica,
6 per cent. of iron.
The products of this fusion, if carefully conducted, will be first slags, silicate
of iron combined with any impurities there may have been in the mixture,
which slags, when they contain a material quantity of copper, which is
generally the case, are fused with calcined ore, or a mixture of calcined and
uncalcined ore in getting a regulus. Second, copper and sulphur combined
with metallic copper and oxide of copper; a few hours roasting will drive of

page_text: Fifteen per
Each of these mixtures, on being fused, produces a like result to what has
been described in respect to the first mixture, and it will be understood that a
great variety of other mixtures might be pointed out capable of producing a
like result; but a workman, from the information here given, will readily
understand the Invention. We would state that in place of using a sulphuret
ore, a regulus of copper may be used, but at a considerably increased cost;
care, however, being observed in all cases, that the quantity of silex is adjusted
to the quantity of iron present, and that the relation of oxide and sulphuret be
adjusted to each other, as herein explained; for this purpose the quantity of
silex present should be nearly equal, as indicated by the above examples, to the
quantity of metallic iron in the oxide and sulphuret of iron in the mixture,
and the sulphur present should, as is shewn by the examples above given, be
about one half more in quantity or weight than the oxygen in the oxide of
copper in the mixture.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that what we claim is,―
First, the boiling of a regulus of copper in an alkaline solution.
And secondly, we claim the mode herein described of obtaining copper from

page_text: copper ore, whereby not only are the oxygen and sulphur in the mixture
adjusted in relation to each other, but the iron and silica are also adjusted
to each other.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Trueman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of Angust, in
the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Alfred Trueman came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
NYT NIINGO