Extractive metallurgy

Extractive metallurgy obtains metals from ores and mineral concentrates through physical separation and chemical processing. It includes preparation, extraction, and refining steps.

Mineral processing: The physical treatment of ores to separate valuable minerals from waste rock. Crushing, grinding, and separation prepare ore concentrates for extraction.
Ore: A naturally occurring material containing minerals from which valuable substances can be extracted economically. Ore is the feed material whose composition and grade shape processing choices.
Ironmaking: The industrial production of iron from iron ore, chiefly in blast furnaces or direct-reduction plants. Ironmaking illustrates large-scale reduction of oxide ores and separation of molten iron.
Biohydrometallurgy: The use of microorganisms or their products to extract metals from ores and waste materials. It uses biological activity where conventional chemical leaching may be costly or energy-intensive.
Pyrometallurgy: Metal extraction and refining processes that use heat at high temperatures. Smelting and roasting use heat to transform ore into metal or metal compounds.
Mineral: A naturally occurring inorganic solid with a defined chemical composition and crystalline structure. Metal-bearing minerals occur within ores and govern how metals can be liberated.
Aluminium smelting: The electrolytic production of aluminium from alumina dissolved in molten cryolite. Aluminium cannot be economically produced by ordinary carbon reduction.
Direct reduction: The production of solid iron from iron ore without melting the iron in a blast furnace. It offers an alternative to blast-furnace ironmaking and can use different reductants.
Hydrometallurgy: Metal extraction processes that dissolve metals in aqueous solutions and recover them chemically or electrochemically. Leaching transfers metals from solids into solutions for later recovery.
Gangue: The uneconomic minerals accompanying valuable minerals in an ore. Gangue must often be separated or chemically managed during extraction.

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