Improvements in or relating to the treatment of scrap copper

摘要

Solid brittle inorganic compounds are removed from scrap copper or copper-alloy wire or insulated cable (consisting of one or more conductors embedded in mineral powder, e.g. magnesium oxide, and enclosed in a copper sheath) by chopping the wire or cable into sufficiently short lengths to dissociate the inorganic compounds from the copper and mechanically separating the chopped copper from the dust formed from the inorganic compounds. The chopped lengths preferably do not exceed three times the diameter of the wire or conductor. The process may be effected in a chopping or granulating machine fitted with a dust extractor. The chopped copper may finally be furnace-refined.