Design and Commissioning of the Ausmelt TSL Lead Smelter at Yunnan Tin Company Limited

A commercial lead smelter using Outotec Ausmelt TSL Technology has been successfully commissioned and put into operation at Yunnan Tin Corporation Ltd operations near Gejiu City, in Yunnan Province, China. The plant was commissioned in July-August 2010 after 3 years of design and construction works. The process uses a 3 stage batch process to produce lead bullion, zinc fume and a discardable slag low in metal values. The paper provides details of this lead smelting project, including the theoretical evaluation of the multi-stage process chemistry, engineering design, plant commissioning and operation. Emphasis has been given in comparison between the design targets and actual performance of the plant highlighting the fast ramp-up to full production of the largest Ausmelt TSL lead furnace built to date.