Materials and Metallurgical Engineering | Conference paper | Published 2023
The INCO flash smelting process is a copper smelting technology that was developed by the International Nickel Company (INCO) in the 1960s. This process was designed to efficiently extract copper from copper sulfide ores and concentrates. While it was not as widely adopted as the Outokumpu flash smelting process, it is still noteworthy in the history of copper metallurgy. It’s important to note that while the INCO flash smelting process has been used in the copper industry, it did not achieve the same level of widespread adoption as the Outokumpu flash smelting process. The latter process, developed by the Finnish company Outokumpu, has been more prominent and is often recognized as a leading technology in copper metallurgy. However, the INCO process represents an alternative approach to copper smelting that was significant in its time and contributed to the development of copper extraction technologies.