Shaft furnace for the smelting of copper and method therefor

A shaft furnace (1) for smelting a charge material to form molten copper, comprising:

• a vertically disposed steel shell (2), including
• a refractory lining (3) disposed in the vertically disposed steel shell (2),
• a charge port (4) for feeding the charge material into the shaft furnace (1), and
• a taphole (5) for draining the molten copper out of the shaft furnace (1);
• and
• a plurality of burners (6) for heating the charge material and for smelting the copper disposed at predefined levels of the shaft furnace (1) between the charge port (4) and the taphole (5),
• wherein the steel shell (2) of the shaft furnace (1) is cylindrical at least in an upper region (7) above a topmost one of the burners (6) or a topmost row of the burners (6), and
• wherein the refractory lining (3) comprises a sequence of cylindrical portions (8a-e) in the upper region (7),
• wherein the cylindrical portions are mutually concentric, and
• wherein the cylindrical portions include a first portion (8a) and a second portion (8b), the second portion (8b) being arranged adjacent to and below the first portion (8a),
• wherein a diameter of the second portion (8b) is at least 16 mm larger than a diameter of the first portion (8a), and
• wherein the cylindrical portions (8a-e) each a height of at least 1200 mm.