Carolotta Copper – Copper Production Plant
- Owner: Carlota Copper Company
- Project: Copper Production Plant
- Location: Miami, Arizona
- Scope: Engineering, Procurement Assistance
Project Background
Roberts & Schaefer Company provided all design services and procurement assistance for the development of a new “Green Field” 33,000 TPY Copper production plant. This new plant was designed with a heap leach and a Solvent Extraction–Electrowinning (SX–EW) process plant. Roberts & Schaefer Company provided all of the process design, civil, structural, mechanical and electrical design, including the process control architecture and programming for the new facility.
The design of the new facilities included all power distribution, water and firewater distribution, connecting roads to all facilities, the administration building, truck shop facilities, laboratory, pumping stations, and other ancillary facilities.
The crushing circuit consisted of a primary gyratory crusher, overland conveyor with two (2) 600 HP drives, secondary crusher/screen station, and a crushed ore stockpile with feeders and a reclaim conveyor feeding the heap leach system. The heap leach system used several stationary conveyors and a movable system of stacking conveyors.
The process plant consisted of two mixer/settlers and one (1) stripping settler with a large covered electrowinning tank house with an automated stripping machine for removing copper from the stainless steel cathodes. The entire crushing plant and process plant were monitored from the control room near the tank house. The plant also contained all ancillary facilities including acid distribution, filters for organic removal, crud removal, pumping systems, storage tanks, etc.