In the 1990s, the Chinese government decided to increase the efficiency of the Chinese economy and reduce the environmental effects of heavy industry by modernising plants. As a response, the Yunnan Copper Corporation ("YCC") upgraded its existing plant, which was based on a sinter plant and an electric furnace, with a copper ISASMELT furnace. As with the Miami smelter, the electric furnace was converted from smelting duty to separation of matte and slag and providing matte surge capacity for the converters, and again, the small footprint of the ISASMELT furnace was very important in retrofitting it to the existing smelter.
The YCC ISASMELT plant had a design capacity of 600,000 dry t/y of copper concentrate and started smelting concentrate on 15 May 2002. YCC placed a lot of emphasis on training its operators, sending people to Mount Isa for training over a seven-month period during 2001 ahead of the ISASMELT commissioning. The total cost of the smelter modernisation program, including the ISASMELT furnace, was 640 million yuan (approximately US$80 million) and the smelter's concentrate treatment rate increased from 470,000 t/y to 800,000 t/y as a result.
The transfer of operating knowledge from MIM to YCC was sufficient for the first ISASMELT furnace refractory lining to last for two years, a marked improvement on the life of the initial lining of other plants.
YCC described the modernisation project as "a great success, achieving all that was expected." Energy consumption per tonne of blister copper produced decreased by 34% as a result of installing the ISASMELT furnace, and YCC estimated that during the first 38 months of operation, it saved approximately US$31.4 million through reduced energy costs alone, giving the modernisation a very short payback by industry standards.
In 2004, YCC's management was presented with awards for Innovation in Project Management and the National Medal for High Quality Projects by the Chinese government to mark the success of the smelter modernisation project.
Xstrata subsequently licensed YCC to build three more ISASMELT plants, one in Chuxiong in Yunnan Province, China to treat 500,000 t/y of copper concentrate, one in Liangshan in Sichuan Province, China and the other in Chambishi in Zambia to treat 350,000 t/y of concentrate. Chuxiong and Chambishi were commissioned in 2009. Liangshan was commissioned in 2012.
*Mopani Copper Mines, as part of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited