Tellurium Recovery from Blister Copper and Copper Matte: A Review

Tellurium is introduced in primary copper production via copper concentrates and is usually obtained by hydrometallurgical processing of the anode slimes. However, the removal of Te from anode slime in hydrometallurgical processes is often not very effective, so that Te-containing residues remain in smelter networks. It is therefore necessary to consider Te removal from other materials such as blister copper or copper matte. For this reason, a literature study was carried out to summarize and compare possible ways of Te removal in the copper industry—apart from anode slime processing. For this study public scientific literature as well as patents were used. To compare the different processes, the type and composition of the starting materials, the individual process steps and the Te end products were examined. As a result, soda refining of blister copper with subsequent pyro- or hydrometallurgical processing of the soda slag was identified as the main route of Te removal. Furthermore, there are approaches for processing copper matte which include partial converting to produce a Te-enriched matte phase or hydrometallurgical processes with raw tellurium or copper telluride as the end product.