To perform the energy conservation of a copper melting shaft furnace and to prevent the oxidation of a copper material by holding non-oxidative property or reducibility in the furnace.

The copper melting shaft furnace comprises a molten metal flow outlet 3 and burners 4a to 6g provided on the floor of a vertically established long vertical cylindrical furnace body 1, and a combustion gas exhaust port and a molten material charging port provided at the upper part of the body. A copper material 21 charged from the port is stayed in the body and the combustion gases of the burners are raised in the body to heat and melt the copper material. A plurality of stages of thermal storage burners of an alternate combustion type each have a thermal storage material 8 so that a fuel combustion and a combustion gas exhaust are alternately executed to heat the material by the gas to preheat the combustion air and are arranged on the peripheral wall of the body. An ordinary type burner for always burning is arranged at its lower stage, and these burners are set to an air-furl ratio of 1 or less to reducibly burn it.