Roger
No - copper cannot be 'melted' in a simple big wood fire and I think that it
is highly unlikely that wood/charcoal would have been considered as a fuel
for copper smelting in 1872.
It is unusual to smelt on the mine as the economics do not stand up unless
a) There is a local supply of fuel as the process is requires a lot of fuel
and
b) The mine is big enough to warrant the investment in plant and people.
If smelting had taken place the give-away would be slag. Chalcopyrite, for
example, is only 34.5% copper and the concentrate produced before the days
of flotation would be, maybe, only be 10-15% copper. Thus there would be a
lot of slag. This mine is obviouly out in the bundu and I cannot see that
any slag would have left the site so there would be a dump of it.
Tony Brooks
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