Apparatus for reducing ore

An arc furnace including a furnace body having a pair of opposed side walls and first and second opposed end walls,

• a plurality of electrodes extending into said furnace body,
• means defining a hearth within said furnace body and adjacent its lower end,
• a divider formed on said hearth and extending upwardly from the lower end of said furnace body,
• said divider comprising a first inclined generally planar surface extending upwardly from the first end wall and toward the second end wall and a second inclined generally planar surface extending upwardly from said second end wall and toward said first end wall, said first and second surfaces converging to define a peaked portion in said hearth,
• said surfaces and said side and end walls defining first and second basins on the opposite sides of said peaked portion,
• a first group of said electrodes being disposed above said first basin and a second group of said electrodes disposed above said second basin,
• material feeding means for separately feeding a furnace charge into each of said basins,
• means formed in said furnace body for separately tapping molten material from each of said basins,
• whereby low-grade molten ore may be melted on one side of said divider to form a pool of molten product therein and molten metal rich slag disposed thereabove for floating over said divider to enrich a quantity of molten ore on the other side of said divider.