Anode copper is the intermediate product between copper smelting and electrorefining. Anodes are typically 98.5 to 99.8 % pure and require electrorefining to high-purity copper cathode that can be sold to customers. Impurity elements, including Ag, Au, As, Sb, Bi, Se, Te, Sn, Pb, Co, and Ni (alongside minor Fe, Al, and Si), are either dissolved within anode copper, or contained within micron-scale inclusions. To better understand the distribution of these impurities, a study of anode copper was undertaken on representative samples from the Olympic Dam anode plant, South Australia. Bulk assay for 61 elements of 269 sub-samples collected on a grid across a single anode, including the ‘ears’, shows homogeneity irrespective of location. The five most abundant impurity elements are As (mean 1279 ± 41 ppm), Se (218 ± 11 ppm), Sb (211 ± 8 ppm), Bi (202 ± 9 ppm), and Ni (195 ± 6 ppm). The assay data demonstrate that reliable, representative compositional data on the anode can be obtained from sampling and assay of only a limited part of the whole, including the ‘ears’.

中文翻译：

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南澳大利亚奥林匹克大坝阳极铜中的微量元素杂质

阳极铜是铜冶炼和电解精炼之间的中间产品。阳极的纯度通常为 98.5% 至 99.8%，需要电解精炼成高纯度阴极铜，然后出售给客户。杂质元素，包括 Ag、Au、As、Sb、Bi、Se、Te、Sn、Pb、Co 和 Ni（以及少量 Fe、Al 和 Si），要么溶解在阳极铜中，要么包含在微米级内夹杂物。为了更好地了解这些杂质的分布，对南澳大利亚奥林匹克大坝阳极工厂的代表性样品进行了阳极铜研究。对在单个阳极（包括“耳朵”）的网格上收集的 269 个子样本中的 61 个元素进行的批量分析显示，无论位置如何，都显示出同质性。最丰富的五种杂质元素是 As（平均 1279 ± 41 ppm）、Se（218 ± 11 ppm）、Sb（211 ± 8 ppm）、Bi（202 ± 9 ppm）和 Ni（195 ± 6 ppm）。测定数据表明，可以通过仅对整体的有限部分（包括“耳朵”）进行采样和测定来获得可靠的、有代表性的阳极成分数据。