The Olympic DamOlympic Dam (OD) flash furnaceFlash furnace (FF) smelts copper concentratesCopper concentrate directly to a blister copperBlister copper. During operationOperation, a proportion of the smelted concentrateConcentrate is entrained in the gas phase and passes through the furnaceFurnace through to the waste heat boilerWaste Heat Boiler (WHB) forming an accretionAccretion that requires routine downtime and mechanical intervention to remove. Large throatThroat accretionsAccretion are of considerable concern due to increased risk of worker exposure to hazards and extended production downtime required to remove the accretionsAccretion. Historically, the FF was taken offline every two days for approximately 90 min to allow for the safe and efficient removal of these accretionAccretion. An investigation into the thermochemical behavior of dust particles found that the size and mechanical properties of throatThroat accretionsAccretion were predominately influenced by two factors; ensuring the dust particles were fully oxidized (i.e. no metallic copperCopper present) and dust melt liquidus above 1220°C. FactSageFactSage 8.2 was used to calculate the thermodynamicThermodynamics properties of the dust particles. Oxygen was injected into the settler freeboard through non-operational fuel oil burners, a minimum oxygen injection rate of 1,000 Nm3/hr of oxygen into the settler freeboard was established to ensure all dust particles were fully oxidized. And the frequency between throatThroat cleans was established based on feed composition and operational observations during throatThroat cleans. The improved management and forecasting of throatThroat accretionAccretion at OD has increased the frequency between throatThroat cleans from 2.5 to 3.3 days. Opportunities to further increase the time between throatThroat cleans exists for specific feed compositions.