Figure 25 Since 2002 10 out of 26 aluminium smelting facilities closed in the EU source European Aluminium 53 Copper The primary production of copper tak es place in three stages a mining and concentration of the ores b conversion of the sulfdes and other copper compounds to copper c refning of copper There are 2 main routes in production of copper 120 the pyrometallurgical and the hy drometallurgical leaching route W orldwide appro ximately 80 of primary copper is produced through pyrometallurgy process and the remaining 20 with hydrometallurgy process The hydrometallurgical route is particularly suitable for ores which are difcult to concentrate by conventional means 121 In the pyrometallurgical route the mined and powdered copper ore is mix ed with oil and agitated with water in a large tank to which detergent has been added Compressed air is forced through the mixture and the lightweight particles of copper sulfde are carried to the top and foat on the froth Heavier clays and other silicates settle to the bottom of the tank 120 A third and efciency way of copper production uses bacteria and acidifed water on coppermining wastes with l ow copper content The bacterial processes lead to the solution of copper into water where the copper can be recovered In the US a signifcant amount of copper is produced in this way CIES ND 121 CIES ND Emissions from anode consumption decreased 19 between 1997 and 2015 116 In particular indirect emissions fell 53 19972015 due to this decline in production capacity efciency improvements and the decarbonisation of the EU power grid Between 1997 to 2005 indirect emissions appeared to be stable However indirect emis sions per ton decreased almost 30 because of the decarbonisation of the grid and energy efciency improvements Despite the decrease in the same period the total EU primary production increased around 23 because of the positive economic upturn and growing demand which overall rebalanced the total emissions for the period 117 Figure 24 Evolution of aluminium process emissions PFC and C O 2 emissions from anode consump tion C O 2 eq Source EEA 2019 There are two factors which e xplain the large drop of emissions between 2005 to 2015 First there have been continuous improvements in overall process efciency Second an important element in the overall reduction in GHG emissions is due to a 35 reduction of primary capacity in the EU since 2007 118 compared to 2006 production levels 119 These clo sures followed the economic crisis which depressed global aluminium prices and e xposed EU primary aluminium production to international competitors with lower production costs in particular electricity prices This means that part of the EU s primary production was replaced by more imports given the growing demand and secondary production 116 CO 2 process emissions as reported by EU member states to the UNFCCC and the EU s GHG monitoring mechanism IPCC sector 2C 3 117 European Aluminium 118 European Aluminium 119 BGS 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 2015 2010 2005 2000 1995 1990 PFC emissions Mt CO eq Emissions from anode consumption Mt CO eq Closed Operating Idled MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 43