Engineering Costs and Production Economics, 18 ( 1990) 275-283 275 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.. Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands TECHNOECONOMIC STUDY FOR PRODUCTION OF COPPER FROM SAUDI ORE A.H. Fakeeha, K.M. Wagialla and M.E. El-Dahshan Chemical Engineering Department, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 1 142 I (Saudi Arabia) ABSTRACT The total estimated known copper deposits in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are at present 23.2 million tons. This paper reviews the most widely used pyrometallurgical copper extraction pro- cesses (both batch and continuous), in an at- tempt to find out their advantages and disad- vantages with a view to selecting the most appropriate technique for copper extraction from Saudi ores. A preliminary economic as- sessment for a complete copper extraction proj- ect (from ores to cathode quality copper) is pre- sented for a specific copper deposits location in the Kingdom. 1. INTRODUCTION TABLE 1 Copper is found in nature in various forms ranging from the pure metal to sulphide, oxide and carbonates ores. The Arab world, and in particular the Gulf Community Countries have large deposits of copper minerals as presented in Table 1 [ 11. These ores are present in var- ious mineral classes according to their copper content. Copper deposits were discovered in several locations in Saudi Arabia. The geolog- ical surveys performed until now indicated that such deposits are concentrated in the following locations in the Western region of Saudi Ara- bia [2-41: Reserves of the known mineral deposits in the Arab countries [ 11 (millions tons) Country Iron ore Copper ore Lead Zinc Manganese Algeria 4,477 _ 0.328 0.310 - Egypt 900 1 0.089 0.171 2 Jordan 3,082 200 Libya 1,115 Mauritania 488 23 Morocco 118 43 1.657 0.932 I Oman 15 Saudi Arabia 529 23.2 0.042 0.583 Somalia 48 Sudan 127 9.3 Syria 116 Tunisia 500 0.300 0.170 (a) Jabal Sayid which is located 150 kilo- meter south east of Al-Madinah. It has an es- timated 7- 10 million tons of 2.2% copper de- posits associated with 1.4% zinc, 40 g/ton silver and 0.5 g/ton gold. (b) Al-Safara which is not far from Jabal Sayid region and contains an estimated 2.7 million tons of 2.1% copper deposits. (c) Wadi Bidah and Shawas which are lo- cated south east of Jeddah. These locations contain an estimated 4 and 3 million tons of 3.6% and 1.24% of copper deposits, respectively. (d) Al-Amar location which has an esti- 0167-188X/90/$03.50 0 1990 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.