OREANDA-NEWS. July 26, 2010. Copper cathodes produced by Uralelectromed (metallurgical complex of UMMC Group) have been registered at the LME. The Russian copper manufacturer has become the first ever that entered the list of one of the most prestigious and powerful world center of nonferrous metals trade. LME Copper Committee has approved UMMC brand copper cathodes of Grade A, and since that such copper cathodes have obtained a Good Delivery status, reported the press-centre of UMMC.

‘We have gained a Good Delivery status at the LME in the result of goal-directed methodical efforts of the company for upgrading quality of the copper cathodes for the last ten years’, said Viktor Ashikhin, Chief Engineer of the Uralelectromed. A strict quality control system is implemented in the company. It covers the whole copper cathode process chain: from raw material to finished product”.

Registration procedure took several years. Once Uralectromed passed through documentation procedure, it proceeded to testing of copper cathodes at various copper wire rod plants in Germany, Spain and Poland. Copper cathodes were tested for chemical composition, conductivity and spiral elongation. These three parameters met all requirements of the LME. Some of them even exceeded them. Thus, the result of spiral elongation test at the final stage exceeded 400 mm as compared with a targeted 350 mm.

It is worth mentioning that Uralelectromed has improved process conditions of key production facilities in order to meet the LME requirements. The aim of a anode casting plant being the first link in the refined copper production chain was to select appropriate charging materials. As raw material composition was changed, copper anodes had to be of better quality. The task of process parameters optimization faced also the copper tankhouse. Concurrently, the company has improved its quality control system.

In the result of the adopted policy, Uralelectromed made a breakthrough in copper cathode quality. As compared with 70% of copper cathodes of M00k grade produced in 2000, in 2004 such value reached 99%. In the following years the reached result was on the rise. In 2009 Uralelectromed produced 99.6% of M00k copper cathodes.

It is appropriate to recollect that in August 2004 Uralelectromed was granted the Good Delivery status for refined silver, in May 2006-for refined gold. Today, Uralelectromed is the world-exclusive copper smelter with a refinery, which products have been approved by the LBMA.