Tanzania’s first copper smelter in old railway workshop

[John Ashworth]

Tanzania’s first copper smelter starts production this week

March 26, 2012 - 14:29 GMT Location: Johannesburg
Metal Bulletin

Tanzania’s first copper smelter, which has just opened up shop in Dar es Salaam under the company name Danformation, expects to receive its first consignment of copper ore this week.

The first of six smelters was built and commissioned “a few months ago” and test smelts have been carried out, according to the company’s ceo Joshua Dalgaard. “We are waiting for our first consignment of ore, hopefully this week [for commercial smelting],” Dalgaard told Metal Bulletin, adding that the first consignment was expected to be about 300 tonnes. The smelter has a capacity of 12,000-18,000 tpy of copper blister ingot, produced from copper oxide with 90-98% purity. The smelter is built in an old workshop that belonged to Tanzania Railways. The first phase of the project has cost $1 million, Dalgaard said, and his company started renovating the site...