Inside America's Super Smelter

[@AtomicFrontier]

I'm in awe of the people who keep this facility running - just wearing the suit was intense! And yup, it smells pretty much as you'd expect.

[@zacharyrocks1]

Hey, so I work at an oilsands mine in northern Canada and I have not asked any of my bosses but would you be interested in seeing how it works??? Zero guarantee that they say yes but it never hurts to ask.

[@NickiRusin]

@@zacharyrocks1 you should probably shoot James a message through his website (the link's in the description)

[@zacharyrocks1]

@@NickiRusin thanks for the suggestion!

[@AtomicFrontier]

@Ryan Davis Thanks! Had so much fun!

[@rockets4kids]

Now do one on the cleanup of the Berkeley Pit.

[@cxob2134]

Can someone already award him the "best audio quality in adverse conditions" Award. Last time on ski now under a gas mask and in high wind, still super clear voice.

[@AtomicFrontier]

Amazing! We've come a long way in audio processing

[@sypialnia_studio]

That wind blowing on this flat plain should hide his voice much more than it did. Amazing sound editing for real!

[@rileymannion5301]

You realize it's just voice over right? He just does the script there then does it again into a mic and they lay the pre recorded audio over the video they recorded, some of the clips had real audio but none of those clips had much background noise

[@NickFajardo]

@@rileymannion5301 spoil sport

[@emmajacobs5575]

@@rileymannion5301 I thought it sounded too good to be true. But why fake the slightly muffled sound rather than just straight studio sound? 🤷‍♀️

[@darkgaia181]

As a metallurgist, all of these refining processes fascinate me. I'd highly recommend watching videos on how other product forms (metal plate, forgings, castings, bars, etc.) are made. Maybe even a topic for a future video!

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! Yup thats the plan! I'm trying to find some steel works to cover next episode and make a series out if it. This stuff is facinating!

[@darkgaia181]

@@AtomicFrontier I'll send you a quick message on your website form with some potential US based suppliers!

[@maximianocoelho4496]

@@darkgaia181 Beryllium and Tungsten is others that I would love to see, as they are really mysteries and extreme metals. I cant even imagine a tungsten kiln.

[@darkgaia181]

@@maximianocoelho4496 beryllium might be a little out of reach just because of its status as a carcinogen. Even machining it is enough to cause concerns let alone melting it. Tungsten would be really interesting, though!

[@maximianocoelho4496]

@@darkgaia181 and there is strategic value in preserving the way they process it. The US leads in Beryllium production for a reason... Oooh well, Titanium from titanium oxide maybe?

[@ea-nasir8423]

A fine quality copper documentary!

[@Maric18]

big fan

[@TheL0rdManBearPig]

You sent me the wrong grade of copper you sheister!

[@24kingofcards]

copper lore + 5$ tip, i kneel en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-nasir

[@andybaldman]

Look up other vintage copper docs here. There are a few amazing ones.

[@ItchyDingo]

I think this dude just paid himself 😄

[@NickyNooNah99]

I've spent 4 years of my career in furnace engineering. Including the Kennecott furnace pictured here. One thing that I find so interesting about smelting is that these furnaces employ such old concepts (brick linings) and wrap them in so much advanced engineering. Even so, when something goes wrong, it's such a guessing game trying to understand how to improve the life of a furnace. It's held together with extremely large forces, can't be cooled down regularly if at all, and is always holding thousands of tonnes of material. So it's basically impossible to inspect a furnace mid campaign and even very difficult to undertake a autopsy once a furnace has reached end of life. Smelting is a huge game of benchmarking against other peer smelters which even then, aren't fully comparable.

[@resurgam_b7]

That's super interesting, I never thought about the material science behind such monstrous vessels. It is easy to get caught up in the brilliant heat and molten metal and miss the equally impressive device that created it and holds it captive. It's curious that by being designed for such brutal conditions, a furnace's structure might be jeopardized by more mundane environments; very backwards to most things that a person might commonly interact with where getting too hot is detrimental and cold is only a concern when it is extreme. I find processes and machinery that work at the limits of engineering and material sciences to be fascinating. It is enthralling to peek into environments where every component is taxed to just beneath it's breaking point and anything that isn't purpose built will not survive. Everything there is exotic, operating barely within the bounds of what is possible and fulfilling a task that literally nothing else could.

[@again5162]

Graphite vessels aren't that hard to procure, but yes it's amazing to think we can create and use molten metal

[@lewismassie]

Man it's so cool that you can go into facilities like this. Love learning about otherwise ignored, yet critical industrial processes.

[@spicypapabernie52]

Bro you're turning from Tom Scott at home to you're own amazing thing and I love it. Its been awesome to watch how your videos have evolved, and I'm happy you are finally getting the attention you deserve. Keep it up guy you're doin great!

[@TheKincognito]

the wind at 0:58 is quite strong yet your audio picks up none of it. i really appreciate the effort you put in these videos. they're amazing to watch

[@Alex-lc1bv]

There is definitly some wind noise, but not enough to be annoying.

[@Rwdphotos]

You know what they say about big feet: big socks

[@timothygooding9544]

I've seen stuff about Nvidia's real time noise cancellation, insane stuff wouldn't be suprised if its something similar here

[@elizathegamer413]

Finally I was looking for a good super smelter tutorial

[@elizathegamer413]

But seriously what a wonderful video and extremely exciting explanation, I felt like I totally understood the whole process

[@nickkonkle541]

mumbo jumbo irl

[@LFTRnow]

What a lot of people don't know is most of that "sludge" during electrolytic refining is actually gold and silver. If you check a Periodic Table, you will notice they are in the same column as copper, which is the main reason they are the most common impurities. The sludge is actually a significant portion of the profit of the copper refiner.

[@StuffandThings_]

As someone who loves material science and geology, I'm always fascinated by how we manage to extract massive quantities of desired elements. Can't have our modern lifestyle without vast and intricate supply chains supplying industrial quantities of raw materials. Aluminium would be another great one to look into due to its importance and the rather interesting refining process. they often also run the smelters on hydropower due to vast electricity demand, which is always a neat thing to cover. And bauxite, the main Aluminium ore itself is quite interesting, it often forms in tropical environments as the intense rainfall erodes the soil leaving behind bauxite. And the refining process relies on cryolite, a mineral which was literally mined to commercial extinction due to rarity and is now produced synthetically.

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

And there's conveniently a large Aluminium smelter much closer to home for James to film at, if he gets the chance, which would be a nice bonus.

[@bradley9856]

James Dingley here, today I will be turning myself into a ingot. lol, I love the videos James.

[@A_killa]

love the commitment in these videos could have just described the processes and evolution but instead going to the factories and mine's shows a lot of effort that for most people watching will be glanced over even little things like at the start of the video naming a mineral and having a chunk of that mineral to show to the camera shows a lot of effort in these videos making them very enjoyable to watch

[@DenisRyan]

How better to start off my Saturday than coffee and discovering a new Atomic Frontier video is up? Awesome!

[@irhogi3332]

It’s funny how the KZbin algorithm works sometimes. I’ve never heard about your channel but yet, the first video I watch that shows up on my recommended feed is the place where I work! It’s all really fascinating stuff and I can’t believe you got the approval to go where you did! Hope you had a good time and learned a lot!

[@KevinJohnMulligan]

Alphabet (Google) has data on where you work, where you travel day-to-day... This allows the algorithm can interpolate those data and show you relevant information. It's actually quite remarkable how effective the algorithm is (albeit very creepy)

[@sagmilling]

My first job after graduation was working with the mass and heat balances for the Kennecott Flash smelter upgrade that was shown in the video. I was specifically working out the best size of the bedding plant (think - stockpile) between Copperton and the Smelter. A little linear algebra to rotate a nine-dimensional elemental data set and and dozens of hour-long simulation on a brand-new, top-of-the-line 486 computer per simulation. Good times.

[@onradioactivewaves]

486 - dx, or sx? Inquiring minds want to know...

[@atulyasahoo7982]

Very interesting Alex.... Will eager to know more about your bedding plant project.

[@lonnieanderson6138]

In the late 90's I was a Kennecott Energy electrician in Wyoming. HR informed me that there was a call for maintenance persons to fill temporary (3 month) positions at the Kennecott Smelter in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Outokumpu Flash Converting Furnace process used at the Smelter was a new process. Off the top of my head I do not remember when it started production, but the 3-month rebuild process that I was involved in the first time was mostly tasked with repairing and/or replacing production equipment that had been found deficient in the production process. For example, during most of the production process, parallel lines existed which allowed one side to be shut down if some type of maintenance was required. That is until the final step of Anode pouring. Originally, one wheel had been built which accepted pours from both lines. That was all well and good until the problem developed in the Anode wheel itself; then both parallel production lines would be stopped. Simple solution - two anode wheels that could receive the pours from either production line or both production lines. I am a process person - I love viewing processes and equipment, studying prints and authoritative descriptions, and putting paper and pencil to real life. I mined coal for 25 years, getting very involved with the process in two different mines. I worked as a millwright/electrician in a sawmill during a mine layoff, and I finished my career on the west coast working for a major aircraft production corporation. I love processes that produce an end product we use - the intricacies of the machines used in production and the real world equipment and methods involved with the maintenance of that equipment - the proper way to troubleshoot a motor or control problem and then how to repair said problem. And I love delving into the parts and process involved in measuring the process. The Smelter was unique, in my experience, because there were many detours that could occur in the process. The second furnace in line was going to be down for a month - no problem the product could be diverted prior to it and could be loaded on rail cars and sold or could be stockpiled. While, of course, this was not the best solution, it could be added to the overall costs involved in the rebuild apparently. This concept was something I was unaccustomed to in mining and lumber; if something went down the process was hurt, and it was as_____s and elbows until the repair was completed or the lost production could be converted to Preventative Maintenance. Every bit of the process was environmentally produced that I observed. Chemicals and vapors produced in the melting and burning were captured as much as humanly possible and then packaged and/or converted into a product that could be sold for human or process consumption. 150 years ago ore producing facilities probably had little idea of the products and money they were throwing away or, at least, they had no idea or the means of capturing these products. While, I dare not say it was “fun”, the maintenance process was thrilling to say the least - getting a phone, radio, or intercom call when a problem occurred, getting the maintenance troops to the problem area, overseeing the troubleshooting, facilitating the parts procurement and transportation, buttoning up the repair, and putting the call up to the control room that they could start it up. Worrying about the safety items involved in Smelter operations added to the thrill. Actually, that is BS, my job as a maintenance person Was Fun. Regardless of what it meant to the various productions involved in terms of lost profits - my job was to repair those problems. If the problems did not occur as a normal course of events I would not have been there.

[@__8120]

So excited to see a tour of tangotek's base

[@ReliableDragon]

Super cool video! I drove past those smelters once a long time ago, and had always wondered how they worked. Super neat to see the process from beginning to end, I have no idea how you convinced them to let you take such amazing shots in their facility!

[@EverythingIsMacabre]

0:42 I want to buy one of those shirts! Simple and snazzy.

[@ashleywilson3814]

Love this sort of video! It's like a mini excursion from school in video form. Also it's great to see a glimpse into industries we never had a career in. More please!

[@genebrown1290]

Worked at Copper Range Company in the upper peninsula of Michigan at white pine, best job i ever had mining underground.

[@ronaldsingo3436]

So the balls in the mill are not called bearings, they are Grinding Balls, the round tanks where the concentrate settles are thickeners, the clear water is the overflow and the is a rake that thickens the slurry and that is collected as thickener underflow. Very informative and well done, clear and straight to the point.

[@Coldstack16]

I’ve driven past this a couple of times and had no idea what it was used for and the fact that it’s still operating. This is very interesting.

[@felixmoran1]

I saw that dig at the NBN Young man 🤣 as my video struggled to buffer 😅. Top work, keep it up

[@blee7375]

Relatable Australian moment

[@thekracken420]

Heavy Tom Scott vibes in the best possible way! Great videos and brilliant story's, thank you for your content 😄

[@ONIONEILL]

James my boy you look good in that huge metal suit 🥺

[@dennis_nl7587]

as a copper scrapper and melter, I enjoyed this video alot

[@grantcarter3972]

Ah! Another video hot off the presses!

[@antoniotreminio]

Great video, perhaps consider a Part II, and Part III, *How it is explore and how it is trade it and finally commercialize to light up people’s homes.

[@hamadaag5659]

This channel is slowly crawling its way up my favourite channels list

[@youkofoxy]

now that is crazy. how much we underestimate metals and they applications. also, that is indeed a crazy process.

[@pyrazine]

i never understood electrolysis of metals even in my chemistry courses but you explained it so concisely, great video!

[@dannymac6368]

Awesome, I love an Atomic sunrise. 🤩

[@Insertnamesz]

I'm glad you took the effort to dub over that one scene where clearly it was loud as heck behind you, but I am kinda curious to see how funny you looked just gesturing with the blasting furnace in the background hahaha

[@smallman7248]

the editing is actually top notch, I love how the edits seem in the real space with all the shadows, shows just how much effort goes into these. Documentary is also super cool, made the copper process seem actually very interesting :) you really deserve more views

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thank you so much!!

[@Methoverbitches]

Legend has it if you live near these facilities in Magna or west valley your health suffers from it 😉 Best video I’ve ever seen on this mine/refine. Didn’t even mention the massive trucks haha

[@vk3hau]

2:28 LOL " excellent electrical conductivity" with the Australian joke " although probably not a good idea for the NBN "

[@helper_bot]

despite playing so many rts games, there's actually a lot that gets lost at production. this is a great content to close that gap!

[@charleswieand4445]

Worked every job in Bendix grey iron and ductile iron foundry St Joesph Michigan . Pouring, grinding, trained in lab , ran molding machines,ladle repair, cupolas running and repair,furnace, had my own silver suit, Been hot enough to have bill on helmets melt and sag down over eyes ,

[@mechano6505]

I love it when I find channels that provide high quality content out of nowhere. Keep going, seems the algorithm is starting to pick up on you!

[@coolworx]

I am fascinated by mankind's ingenuity. I am also frightened by it because I think our cleverness might be the answer to Fermi's paradox.

[@danielhale1]

I'm sorry I missed visiting you while you were in Utah. Fantastic video all the same, and I hope you had a good time here!

[@dankdungeon5104]

such high production value. I always look forward to these types of videos. Keep doing what you're doing💯

[@raymondready7496]

I'm from bisbee az and found alot of native copper and gems and minerals back in the late 70s.

[@superturkeylegs]

Raised in Utah, passed Kennecott many a time, but never actually saw how they did it. Fascinating! Thank you!

[@jerrywtt]

Love the Name Kennicot must be paying tribute to the Kennicot mine in Alaska!

[@zambonibob2026]

mad respect to the mad lads who work in these places

[@Immortal..]

Just discovered this channel. Production quality is a lot better than I wouldve expected from 200k subs. Youre on your way to cross the million mark soon, calling it now

[@kamj6607]

copper is probably the most important metal ever used in any society. i'm proud to be a metal worker in the advanced alloys field, thank you for this mini documentary!

[@AtomicFrontier]

Wow - and thanks! Would love to hear how it is in your bit of the industry. Must be really interesting.

[@kamj6607]

@@AtomicFrontier i do welding mostly, cathode racks for battery plants and brass fittings. copper and it's alloys make my living. it's a truly incredible material.

[@giantsquidMAN]

Watching this from an Australian iron ore mine owned by the same company as that copper smelter. Unfortunately we don't do any cool processing of the iron ore here, but the scale is enormous

[@MikeInSandy]

Im literally sitting at my home office and can see the open pit copper mine. Though that part is an eye sore in Salt Lake Valley the process is still cool.

[@hgbugalou]

Your channel is incredible and right up my alley.

[@JohnnySuperDemon]

Crazy! I’ve been subscribed to you for a while, and now you’re right in my backyard! Growing up I’ve always been in awe at the size of the mines and how they are easily pointed out from the freeway.

[@Slash1066]

Instantly subscribed, this is the kind of content I live for

[@grinkyle]

Great work, subscribed within the first 20 seconds. One of those videos/channels that you know is quality.

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks so much! I promise to keep things exciting

[@russellemerson9657]

As soon as I heard copper I was hoping it would be the facility attached to the Bingham mine. Its an absolute eyesore but the mine and smelting facility are incredible feats of engineering

[@d.jensen5153]

Standing at the observation level, or flying across it in a little Cessna, the mine can be spectacular! The tailings...not so much.

[@freetek23]

This is Tom Scott- Level of quality! Way underrated channel, hope you get recognized soon.

[@paytonpryor]

You sure have been doing a lot of traveling. Glad you're able to travel again.

[@mister_r447]

So iron is just dumped outside? It made me imediatly think of a post apocalipse story where people would just find that "slag" and use it to forge weapons.

[@boarbot7829]

Or they could just use all the other iron that would be left over after the apocalypse.

[@mister_r447]

@@boarbot7829 iron ore would be harder to obtain

[@ooooneeee]

@@boarbot7829 yeah that's such a waste. The iron sulfur slurry/slag should be reprocessed into iron. We need our economy to stop producing waste and start reusing everything we can.

[@emmajacobs5575]

@@ooooneeee or even just recover the waste heat - there must be an enormous amount of thermal energy in the slag

[@sagmilling]

the iron isn't in its elemental form, it is encased in silicate. The SiO2 in the slag is what draws the iron out of the metal melt inside the flash furnace.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

thank you for adding proper subtitles.

[@bwjclego]

As someone who works with copper quite often (electrician), it is very cool to see how it is made!

[@harryb242]

This is amazing, how am I just seeing this. Super informational, upbeat, and enjoyable to watch. Keep it up!

[@davidlowe6752]

Never thought this would interest me, excellent video man!

[@loganreynolds4800]

Thank you for the video, I've been wondering how this mine worked for years.

[@thesmurfywarrior]

This was by far one of the most concise, yet informative videos I've ever seen on KZbin. Very entertaining; I love learning about heavy industry. Keep up the good work!

[@profsusansatsumas]

2:30 loving the ea-nasir reference

[@ivprojects8143]

Excellent documentary! Thank you for making it.

[@alacer8878]

Randomly recommended this- *amazing* video. Good content my guy.

[@JoshDoingLinux]

As a utahn we do have some pretty cool stuff around our enormous copper mine.

[@jackprier7727]

It has been wild to watch the latest slag-mountain form, from nothing to dozens of square kilometers with the giant wooden pipe--for dust control--, just like the old one, but way huger {seen from I-80}-

[@twelfthmanau]

How good was the little NBN dig. Love it!

[@xander4644]

6:22 is the most baddass Viking of a man I've ever seen lmfao

[@jedimasternoob]

This is top quality content!! Keep up the amazing work and you will go far my friend!

[@meirbookatz8304]

Wow what a high quality video with such great content, you deserve so much more recognition. Carry on bro, great work!!

[@KevinJohnMulligan]

I am always flabbergasted by the scale at which primary industry works at in modern times. Somehow I expect that the output should cost a lot more than it does.

[@jimmysgameclips]

Fascinating, superbly presented

[@Hankathan]

I love how in all of the reactions pictured, you actually took the time to make all the products correctly! Even when you dont explicitly explain it I can understand how the reaction works.

[@CuriousEarthMan]

Great video, thank you! In the beginning, your hair appeared copper color to me :)

[@overzone666]

metallurgy is a recent fascination of mine, and your video has given me more than enough satisfaction in my hobby interest!

[@flash52958]

I found your channel last night and it’s so interesting. Reminds me of the early Curious Droid days in the sense of how informative and entertaining your channel is. Really love it keep doing you mate 👍🏻

[@newq]

This video tickled my history-interested, metallurgy-dabbling, former geology student brain.

[@vedritmathias9193]

Growing up in Utah, I've been to the Kennecott mine a few times

[@l8dawn]

these videos are so cool!!! the editing and animations are superb, and I love watching all these vids as they come out! :)

[@Ckcdillpickle]

Insane how far that copper sludge goes down that mountain

[@karlharvymarx2650]

A lifetime ago, the sulphur wasn't captured to make sulphuric acid. For miles around the local copper mine, old photos show a wasteland devoid of vegetation. Half a lifetime ago, when sulphur chemicals were no longer dumped into the air, the US Feds planted trees like mad. (Not sure if they had to neutralize the soil.) The trees still look a little sickly to me but are of reasonable size for their age and are growing, even on the mine and around the smelter ruins. There are still huge piles of iron containing slag that are still barren. Even though the iron content is high enough to readily stick it to a magnet, I guess it wouldn't pay to extract the iron. Some of it seems to be used as gravel.

[@scottwilliams895]

Really excellent video! Keep up the great work

[@redeyeofthenightfall]

relatively young but incredibly high quality channel! this is a pleasant find thank you for this video. thoroughly enjoyed it. subbed

[@davidl7367]

Amazing work. Congratulations

[@Ozblu3y]

Dude your vids are getting better and better!!!

[@asdfpoiuyify]

Loving the shout-out to my man Ea-nasir

[@SecondFoundation]

This channel is incredible. Notifications on for sure.

[@crabslayer6947]

This is undoubtedly the single most underappreciated channel on this entire site.

[@oldtimer2192]

An enjoyable mini docco, well done!

[@funnylife7454]

so underrated keep up the amazing work

[@Danger_mouse]

James, another great video. 👍 I've been involved in Underground mining maintenance in Australia, both in your home state of WA and in the Eastern state of Australia for about 15 years. Most of the mines have been copper and / or gold production. While we see the mills, and the ore concentration going on, I've never actually been through on the them. It still blows my mind that all of what we do is to get metal from ore is financially viable.

[@MarkReviews]

Welcome to Utah!!! Lots of cool stuff like this here. Come back any time.

[@MrJakson112]

Holy shit, you're an amazing presenter! I see big stonks for you in your future! 📈📈

[@Drew_TheRoadLessTraveled]

I live under the shadow of Australia's biggest Lead/Silver smelter. As a boilermaker I have worked in the mines, on the crushers, in the foundry on the smelt floor. Very well presented info. Do a video on crucibles, They are amazing.

[@jaqenhghar2970]

6:43 - speaking of Mount Doom, you literally have the Tower of Barad-dûr right next door! lol