In Carajás, home to a large share of our reserves, the copper extraction process takes place through open-pit mining using large-scale equipment. After it is extracted from the ground, the copper ore is conveyed to a crusher to break it up, and is then transported by conveyor belt to be ground down in a SAG (Semi-Autogenous Grinding) mill.
After it has been classified according to particle size, the copper ore is put into tanks where it passes through a flotation process to make it more concentrated.
A thickening process then follows, with most of the water removed from the mineral particles in dewatering vats. After this, the pulp (concentrate plus water) is pumped through filters. At the end of this beneficiation (ore treatment) process, the copper concentrate is about 30% copper, compared to an average of 1% copper contained in the ore that came out of the mine.