Recent Advances in Leaching and Extractive Metallurgy

Dear Colleagues,

The recovery of metals from ores, concentrates, and recycled or residual material plays an integral role in the multi-billion-dollar minerals processing industry. It represents a significant value asset in both developed and developing nations, and is often integrally linked to local communities. A combination of processes is integral across various stages in typical mining recovery and mineral processing circuits, be it comminution and/or beneficiation of the ore; leaching (in-situ, heap, or tank/autoclave); flotation and smelting of the concentrate/matte; electro-refining and solvent exchange processes to obtain final product; or the treatment of waste tailings/slags.

Current extraction technologies to mine and recover metals from their ores are faced with a multitude of issues related to the chemistry, geology, and engineering aspects of the processes involved. These issues include declining ore grade, variations in mineralogy across the deposits, and geo-metallurgical locations of the ore site, which influence the type of process chosen (i.e., pyrometallurgical smelting, hydrometallurgical (bio or chemical), or beneficiation/pre-treatment of ores). The development of technologies that improve energy efficiency, water and resource consumption, and waste remediation (particularly acid-rock drainage) across the circuit is also an important factor to be considered.

Therefore, there is an increased impetus to further advance and implement environmentally sustainable practices in the recovery of valuable metals through the development of novel leaching and extractive technologies in metallurgy. Papers on recent advances, and review articles—particularly in regard to fundamental science, extractive metallurgy (both upstream and downstream processes), and the development of technologies in the processing of mineral commodities from their ores—are invited for inclusion in this Special Issue on “Recent Advances in Leaching and Extractive Metallurgy”.

Dr. Rahul Ram
Dr. Mark I. Pownceby
Guest Editors

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