(12/23/2016) On December 22, 2016, the Dias d’Ávila of Paranapanema facility, within Polo Industrial de Camaçari in Bahia, reached the mark of 6 million tons of copper cathodes produced, rectangular electrolytic copper plates, with a high degree of purity. To celebrate the occasion, a special cathode exhibiting the number was fixed on the plant’s administrative building entrance, alongside others Paranapanema proud historic milestones, showing records achieved in the last decades.

Due to the electrolysis process, unique in Brazil, the Paranapanema copper cathode reaches 99.99% of purity and it is the ideal raw material for the production of copper rod, busbar and for the composition of diverse alloys of the highest quality.

The Paranapanema cathodes are certified by London Metal Exchange (LME) with A degree, an essential requirement to compete on the international market. With around 1 thousand collaborators, the Dias d´Ávila plant has an annual capacity of production of 280 thousand tons of cathodes, commercialized on the internal and external Market, in addition to serving as a base to the other products of the Company.

Production – The Dias d’Ávila production of cathodes begins in the transformation of concentrates, imported from Chile and Peru, with 28% of copper contained in anodic plates with 99.5% of purity. This transformation is done through pyrometallurgical processes, subdivided in seven furnaces: a flash furnace, electric furnace, three blast furnaces and two refining furnaces. This first stage is finalized with the solidification of the liquid copper in a sequenced molding track with a 80t/h capacity.

Then, the plates are taken to the electrolysis process, highly technological and robotic. In this phase, the anodes are immersed on a special chemical solution dip and, from the passage of electric currents, the copper contained on the anode plates dissolves and adheres to the cathode (stainless steel sheets or starting sheets) in the format of metallic copper with 99.99% of purity.

In this process, nothing is missed and the residues are transformed in various copper by-products, such as sulfuric acid, oleum, anodic sludge and granulated slag, applied on miscellaneous purposes by the industry in general.