Approximately 5.0 million manhours were performed under an extremely good safety record.

The new smelter and refinery will produce 165,000 tonnes per year of 99.999 percent pure copper with the recognized industry standard LME Grade A. The production comprises 150,000 tonnes per year of copper from concentrates and 15,000 tonnes per year of copper from scrap.

Smelting furnace offgases are cleaned and treated for impurities prior to conversion to sulfuric acid in a double contact acid plant to make this plant a very modern, environmentally advanced facility. The majority of acid production will be utilized in the Thai fertilizer industry. 

"We have in this project for Thai Copper built a modern effective facility that is also an environmentally responsible addition to Thailand's infrastructure," said Jim McGrath, President of Aker Kvaerner's global metals business unit.

Thai Copper is located in Rayong Province, approximately 170 kilometres south of Bangkok, Thailand. The project began in 1995, but was suspended from mid-1998 until the beginning of 2003 due to the Asian economic crisis. 

The Aker Kvaerner entities responsible for the project were Kvaerner E&C (Thailand) Limited and Kvaerner U.S. Inc.

The smelter utilizes one rotary primary smelting reactor (PSR) of 5-meters diameter and 22-meters length followed by three Syphon converters which operate on a batch basis.  Residual copper is reclaimed from PSR slag by an electric furnace.  Two rotary anode refining furnaces receive blister copper from the converters to reduce sulfur and oxygen. PSR and converter offgases are cooled, cleaned in electrostatic precipitators, and treated for impurities removal prior to conversion to sulfuric acid in a double contact acid plant complete with tail gas scrubber, to make this plant a very modern, environmentally advanced facility. 

Copper from the refining furnaces is cast into anodes using a 24-mold casting wheel, and the anodes are then cooled and transported to the refinery.  The design of the refinery tankhouse is based on modern automated technology to ensure the production of LME Grade A copper cathode.  The cathodes are removed periodically from the tanks, separated from the stainless steel cathode blanks, and packaged for shipment to customers.

ENDS

 

Jason Cohen, Manager of Communications, Aker Kvaerner, San Ramon, California: Tel: +1 925-866-6411

 

AKER KVÆRNER ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Aker Kvaerner"), is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions. The business within Aker Kvaerner span a number of industries, including Oil & Gas production, Refining & Chemicals, Mining & Metals, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Power Generation and Pulp & Paper. Aker Kvaerner has aggregated annual revenues of approximately USD 4.5 billion and employs around 21,000 employees in more than 30 countries.

The Aker Kvaerner group consists of a number of separate legal entities. Aker Kvaerner is used as the common brand/trademark for most of these entities. The parent company in the group is Aker Kværner ASA.

 

Oil, Gas, Process & Energy executes technology development, engineering and construction services for industries as diverse as Oil & Gas Onshore and Offshore Developments, Chemicals & Polymers, Pharmaceuticals, Government Services, and Mining & Metals. With an annual turnover of US$1.14 billion, Oil, Gas, Process & Energy (OGPE) business area of Aker Kvaerner employs more than 5,400 people operating worldwide.

 

Aker Kvaerner Metals serves mining and mineral processing companies by providing studies, project management, EPC, EPCM, commissioning and start-up services. Full service offices are located in San Ramon, California and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States; Santiago, Chile; and Toronto, Canada. Aker Kvaerner Bowen, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, specialises in plant start-up and services to operating plants. Services to the Metals industry are also provided by AK Engineering Services in Europe and Aker Kvaerner Australia. These three organisations work closely together in support of our clients.

This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see our web-pages www.akerkvaerner.com