Leaching Kinetics of Valuable Metals

Abstract

Leaching is a primary extractive operation in hydrometallurgical processing, by which a metal of interest is transferred from naturally-occurring minerals into an aqueous solution. In essence, it involves the selective dissolution of valuable minerals, where the ore, concentrate, or matte is brought into contact with an active chemical solution known as a leach solution. There are numerous hydrometallurgical process technologies used for recovering metals, such as: agglomeration; leaching; solvent extraction/ion exchange; metal recovery; and remediation of tailings/waste. Currently, hydrometallurgical processes have a wide range of useful applications, not only in the mining sector—in particular, for the recovery of precious metals, such as gold and silver—but also in the environmental sector, for the recovery of toxic metals (such as copper, nickel, zinc, manganese, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead) from wastes of various types, and their reuse as valuable metals, after purification.