<Original Papers>On Metallic Copper in Molten Copper Matte

Molten copper matte dissolves metallic part not combining with sulfur. Up to the present it has been considered that this metallic part consists principally of metallic iron, because copper exceeds iron in affinity for sulfur at high temperatures. After several considerations, the author presumes that the chemical reaction, viz. Cu_2S+Fe=FeS+2Cu, governs the concentration of metals in homogeneous molten copper matte. From the result of thermodynamical calculations it becomes clear that metallic copper is considerably higher than iron in concentration ; e.g. the matte consisting of 50% Cu_2S and 47% FeS contains 2.61% Cu and 0.39% Fe in metallic state at 1,200℃. The results of calculations furthermore indicate that the decrease in amount of metallic part, the decrease in temperature and the increase in grade of matte result in the increase in fraction of mstallic copper respectively. These results give us suggestion that this equilibrium relation has some connection with socalled "moss copper" or "hair copper" which is found in solidified copper matte