Created by Group G:

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• Created by Group G
• Amanda Washington
• Brian Quinn
• Rachel Strittmatter
• Steven Santangelo
• Sydney Waclawik

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General Background

• The northern Chilean deserts contain great
  mineral wealth, especially copper
• This area dominates the country in terms of
  population and agricultural resources

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General Background

• Copper has played a large role in the Chilean
  economy since at least 1825
• Copper greatly impacts the Chilean economy

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General Background

• Codelco has 5 divisons
• Codelco Norte
• Salvador
• Ventanas
• Andina
• El Teniente
• All are operated in the northern or central
  part of chile

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Global/National Environment
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Environmental Management

• Administration plans to control regulated
  contaminators issued by the mining process
• Efforts are being made to reduce the amount of
  liquid waste
• Efforts are being made to minimize Codelcos
  impact on the environment
• Technological research is in the process of
  making a less harmful mining process

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Codelco Good Neighbor

• A program designed to work with the communities
  of its mining areas
• Is in favor of the economic development of the
  neighboring populations
• Promotes long term projects such as tourist
  programs, volunteer work, and involving the
  indigenous populations with the area
• Creates solutions for enviornmental problems

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Policy on Sustainable Development

• The mission of Codelco is to develop in a
  responsible and agile way, all of its capacity
  for the mining and related businesses, in order
  to maximize economic value and its contribution
  to the Chilean State in the long-term.
  (http//www.codelco.com/english/desarrollo/fr_poli
  tica.html)
• Has a high priority for both economic success and
  community success

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Policy on Sustainable Development

• Fosters competitiveness and a drive for success
  within the company
• Develops ethical and responsible business
  practices
• Respects all human rights and the dignities of
  all employees
• Takes responsibility for all harmful
  environmental impacts on surrounding areas

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Other Information

• The worlds largest copper miner
• Provides the world with more than 10 of its
  copper
• Andina is the third-largest division of Codelco
  and produces 14 of the companys total output

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Engineering Principles
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Engineering Principles

• The Process by which Copper is mined and purified

• Geological Exploration
• Land is surveyed and inspected. Ore law and best
  form of exploitation are determined
• Extraction
• Mineralized rocks of suitable size are extracted
  from the mine and are shipped to the plant by
  truck/train
• Crushing
• Electric crushers, reduce the rocks into ore
  particles that are no larger than a ½ inch in
  size.

• Milling
• The ore particles from the last step are are
  reduced to a size of 180 microns (1.27 cm).
  Then they are combined with water and other
  reagents to make a pulp
• Flotation
• Pulp is put into flotation cells, and bubbles
  carry the copper and other sulfide ores to the
  surface. The froth formed is dried which forms
  copper concentrate
• Smelting
• Copper concentrate is treated at high temps to
  form RAF (fire refined) Copper. Then this RAF
  Copper is cast into 225 kg plates called anodes

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Engineering Principles
The Process continued

• Electrorefination
• These plates are put into electrolytic cells
  where copper is stripped by an electric current
  from the anodes and are plated to cathodes. This
  produces 99.99 pure copper.
• Leaching
• Sulfuric acid is applied to stock piles of
  mineralized material which dissolves the copper
  contained in the oxide ores from the flotation
  step. The copper sulfide solution created is
  then concentrated.

• Electrowinning
• This is the same as electrorefination, but
  instead 99.99 pure copper is extracted from the
  copper sulfide.
• Inspection
• All the copper cathodes are inspected and
  packaged for shipping
• Shipping
• The cathodes are transported by trains and trucks
  to shipping ports, where they are shipped out all
  over the world

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Engineering Principles

• Workers should definitely have skills and
  background in engineering
• Required to operate heavy/technical machinery
• Planning and analytical skills in order to plan
  mine shafts and dig sites
• Sustainability is important to reduce negative
  environmental effects
• Chemistry and other processes involved in
  purification

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Health and Safety Issues

• Copper is a natural element that is essential to
  living organisms.
• Excess copper consumption can produce some short
  term effects
• Nausea and vomiting
• Wilsonss disease which may lead to more toxic
  effects
• Safety Issues Include
• Heavy machinery
• Production machinery (smelter)

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Sustainable Development

• Guidelines to protect the environment, the
  employees, and the communities related to the
  corporation and it introduces in management the
  preventive principle, which aims to the control
  of environmental aspects and risks related to all
  its activities, the copper mining and its
  byproducts.
• So new engineering techniques and technologies
  must be created in order to fulfill the
  requirements set forth by the sustainable
  development policy.

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Engineers and Science

• Since the environment has become an important
  issue over the past few decades, new engineering
  principles are needed to change the way which
  things were done in the past. In order for these
  changes to be made, for a sustainable
  development, the engineers must fully understand
  the materials that they are working with and the
  byproducts produced from manufacturing. For
  these reasons engineers need a solid background
  in the sciences to develop new technologies.

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Industry Analysis
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The Industry

• Codelco is in the mining industry
• Their main product is refined copper
• They also produce copper sub products, refined
  products, and unrefined products

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Codelcos Competitors

• Freeport-McMoRan of Phoenix, AZ
• Copper, gold, and silver producers
• 2nd largest producer of copper (after Codelco)
• Grupo México of México
• Mexicos largest mining company
• 3rd largest producer of copper worldwide
• Rio Trinto of Melbourne, Australia
• One of the worlds largest mining companies
• Produces iron, copper, uranium, industrial
  minerals (borax, salt, talc), gold, and diamonds

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Major Product Categories

• Copper (obviously)
• Mining companies in Chile also most commonly
  produce coal, iron, precious metals, and
  industrial materials
• Chile is known to mine and produce many other
  materials not listed

Coal
Copper
Diamonds
Industrial Material
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Unique Challenges/Opportunities

• Environmental Restrictions
• Farmers and fishermen fight Codelco in court due
  to the emissions left off in the water and air
• Can utilize all forms of copper
• Refined products
• Cathodes and wire rods
• Unrefined products
• Concentrates (copper, iron and sulfide)
• Blister and anodes (metallic copper)
• Sub products
• Molybdenum and Sulphuric Acid

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What is the importance of copper?

• Copper has important properties for the
  development of societies
• High electrical and heat conductivity
• Resistance to corrosion
• Durability
• It can also be recycled.

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• Its high conductivity will serve to transmit
  more efficiently the energy generated by
  alternative non polluting sources. It is also
  possible to foresee its use in environmentally
  friendly products, such as electrical vehicles.

• Coppers high conductivity also makes possible a
  more efficient use of energy, thus adding not
  only to the quality of the products, but also to
  the ecological aim of burning less fossil fuel to
  prevent climatic change.

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• DSL has allowed to increase copper wire capacity.
  The new system has made a strong entry to markets
  and its use as alternative connectivity will
  grow.

• In the case of microprocessors, the manufacturers
  have already chosen copper as material to build
  new high speed models, thanks to its properties
  of electrical and thermal conductivity.

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• Many companies now focus on their corporate
  social responsibility, which is the view that
  they can help the community by being
  environmentally friendly or helping lower-class
  America.

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Importance to Business

• From the business perspective if you work within
  the CSR part of the firm, you could market a
  product that is environmentally friendly, thanks
  to copper. It would also be more cost efficient
  since copper is cheaper than other products used.

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Importance to Engineering

• Almost all electrical devices rely on copper
  wiring because copper is inexpensive and highly
  conductive. With the fast pace of technology,
  engineers could use copper to make the product
  faster and more efficient.

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The End!