How to Separate Copper From Rock

Extract the copper ore from a mine. Copper is extracted from both open pits and underground mines.

Ground the copper ore to concentrate the ore and facilitate the separation of copper and other useful minerals from the gangue, or commercially useless materials.

Pour the ground ore into a large container and slurry with water. Blow air through the copper ore mixture. The air will attach to the copper and work its way to the top of the container.

Remove the copper compounds from the top of the surface with a skimmer. Dry the ground copper and feed it into a furnace so the copper concentrate melts and oxidizes into two layers. The top layer is the slag, or copper impurities, while the matte layer, which is made of iron and copper, floats to the top.

Pour the matte into a cylindrical vessel. Add lime, silica and air. This will remove the iron slag and sulfur dioxide and allow you to recover the converted copper, also known as blister copper.

Treat the copper blister in a electrolytic process tank with starter chargers, which when charged will separate the pure copper ions from the solution. The anodes are covered in starter sheets where the pure copper accumulates into 300-lb. cathodes.