The Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group from Anhul Province, China, has placed an order with SMS Meer, Germany, for the supply of a complete CONTIROD casting and rolling plant for the production of copper wire rod. With this new wire rod mill, Tongling will further strengthen its position in the copper business. The high-performance wire rod line produces 225,000 t of quality copper wire rod per year from cathodes.
The CONTIROD line is designed for a capacity of 35 t per hour. It is thus one of the largest integrated copper casting and rolling plants in China. The plant will be installed in Tongling, Anhul Province.
The line comprises an innovative gas control system on the shaft furnace for melting copper cathodes and a modular Hazelett twin-belt caster. The casting cross-section is 90 mm x 70 mm.
This is followed by the rolling line with a twelve-stand rolling mill. The enormous reduction in the cross-sectional area from the cast ingot to the wire rod creates a very fine-grained material microstructure. That is a fundamental precondition for the outstanding quality of the finished products.
Thomas Schatz, Project manager from SMS Meer: ‘’The modern and energy-efficient technology such as the gas control system and the variable-frequency drives make the plant one of the most cost-effective of its kind.’’
Commissioning of the line is scheduled for the fall of 2013.