Mexicana de Cobre

Acid Plant Database October 29, 2019

Owner	Minera México, S.A. de C.V. - Mexicana de Cobre
Location	La Caridad, Sonora Mexico
Background	Minera México is a holding company and all of its operations are conducted through subsidiaries that are grouped into three separate units of which Mexicana de Cobre is one. 2005 - Southern Copper Corporation completes the acquisition of Minera México in a stock- for- stock operation, consolidating results as of April 1, 2005 1988 - In a public biding, 95% of Mexicana de Cobre is acquired from the Mexican government and private partners related to GIMMEX by an amount US$690 million. 1978 - Grupo Industrial Minera Mexico (GIMMEX) is created by the Mexican controlling group and is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (GIMMEX).
Website	www.gmexico.com www.southernperu.com
Plant	Plant No. 1	Plant No. 2
Coordinates	30º 29' 32" N, 109º 38' 2" W	30º 29' 35" N, 109º 38' 5" W
Type of Plant	Metallurgical	Metallurgical
Gas Source	Copper Outotec (Outokumpu) Flash Furnace, El Teniente, 3 Peirce-Smith Converters
Plant Capacity	2614 MTPD 226,000 Nm³/h, 11.5% SO₂	2300 MTPD
SA/DA	3/1 DA	3/1 DA
Status	Operating	Operating
Year Built	1988	1996
Technology	MECS	MECS
Contractor	Simon-Carves FENCO	Simon-Carves FENCO
Equipment	-	Blower Supplier: KKK Delivery Year: 1996 Model: SFO 11 Quantity: 2 Flow Rate: 57.4 m³/s Pressure Rise: 719 mbar Driver: 3809 kW, Electric Motor
Remarks	-	-
Pictures
Pictures	-
General	La Caridad complex includes a smelter, an electrolytic copper refinery, a precious metal refinery and a copper rod plant. The distance between this complex and the La Caridad mine is approximately 24 kilometers. Copper concentrates from both Cananea and La Caridad are shipped by rail to the La Caridad smelter where they are processed and cast into copper anodes of 99.2% purity. Sulfur dioxide off-gases collected from the flash furnaces and converters are processed into sulfuric acid, at two sulfuric acid plants. Approximately 2% to 3% of this acid is used by our SX-EW plants and the balance is sold to third parties.Almost all of the anodes produced in the smelter are sent to the La Caridad copper refinery. The actual installed capacity of the smelter is 1,000,000 tons per year, a capacity that is sufficient to treat all the concentrates of the La Caridad and Cananea mining complexes. The amount of smelter copper concentrates was 894,735 tons, 723,984 tons and 684,806 tons for 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively. The anode production capacity is 300,000 tons per year and the 2005, 2006 and 2007 production was 282,412, 242,410 and 204,354 tons, respectively.Sulfuric acid production was 833,380 tons, 670,535 tons and 674,250 tons for 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively.
References	Brosig, D. Safe, P., Randhawa, B, Russell, M., Mariscal S., L. and Puente, J.A., "Environmental Emissions Managment at the La Caridad Copper Smelter", Copper 2019, Vancouver, Canada.
News	July 20, 2019 - Mexico’s environmental prosecutor Profepa said on Saturday it ordered the partial and temporary closure of mining and transport firm Grupo Mexico’s Guaymas facility after it spilled sulfuric acid in the Gulf of California. Grupo Mexico last week said it had quickly controlled the July 9 spill, which it blamed on a valve failure at the Guaymas facility on the coast of the gulf, which is one of Mexico’s most diverse ecosystems. Profepa said it ordered the temporary closure of the facility after visiting the site twice, saying the firm lacked the proper environmental permits for its activities. July 12, 2019 - Mexico’s environmental prosecutor Profepa said on Saturday it ordered the partial and temporary closure of mining and transport firm Grupo Mexico’s Guaymas facility after it spilled sulfuric acid in the Gulf of California. Grupo Mexico last week said it had quickly controlled the July 9 spill, which it blamed on a valve failure at the Guaymas facility on the coast of the gulf, which is one of Mexico’s most diverse ecosystems. Profepa said it ordered the temporary closure of the facility after visiting the site twice, saying the firm lacked the proper environmental permits for its activities.

MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption

* Coordinates can be used to locate plant on Google Earth


Sulphuric Acid on the Web^TM	Technical Manual	DKL Engineering, Inc.