Course Title: Mineral Processing

Course Coordinator Girma Woldetinsae -

Course Code: MnEE7211
Credit Hours: 3
ECTS: 5
Course Category: Professional Elective Group
Year and Semester: Year 2 Semester I
Pre-requisite(s): None
Co-requisite(s): None

Course Aim/Rational: In this course PG students acquired basics of Mineral

processing will acquire additional knowledge and skills and work on some
practical examples.

Course objectives and competence required : After successful completion of the

course students will be able to understand the ore processing techniques,
characterization, liberation and basic extractive metallurgies
Chapter 1:

Mineral properties utilized in separation; importance of

concentrating operations; mineral processing methods; typical
flow sheets; environmental consequences of mineral processing;
Crushing and crushing equipment; Grinding and grinding equipment;
Screening and sieving analysis .

Chapter 2:

Ore handling, mineral Liberation & Classification; Ore

transportation and storage; feeding; mechanical and pneumatic
conveying systems; removal of harmful materials; Sources of data,
Metallurgical domains, test work; Mineral liberation, grade-
recovery relationship; Representing sizing data; principle of
Classification, circuits, screens and cyclones; Energy and size
reduction; Ore characterization, types of tests, plant cost
implications
Chapter 3:
Principles, Solid and Liquid Separation
Sedimentation, thickening and filtration; Representing sizing
data; Physical separation (gravity, magnetic, electrostatic separation;
ease of separation, types of separator; Mineral sands, beach sands,
processes; Magnetic separation, types of separators; Electrostatic
separation, machines; Dewatering; methods, fundamentals, equipment,
flocculation

Chapter 4:
Coal Preparation & Iron Ore Processing ; Coal rank and analysis;
Coal preparation; trends, flow sheet, processes, equipment; Test
work; sink-float test; Iron ore processing steps, equipment;
still more on screens and crushers; Pelletizing, stockpiles

Chapter 5:
Froth Flotation & Dewatering ; principles of flotation; definition,
history, limits, phases, mechanisms; typical flotation
separations; hydrophobicity, reagents, entrainment; cell types,
circuits, test work, flow sheets; Dewatering ; equipment vs.
particle size, methods; thickeners, .flocculation, filters
6. Basic Extractive Metallurgy: Pyrometallurgy, Hydrometallurgy,
Electrometallurgy

Hydrometallurgy ,leaching, copper minerals, gold

heap leach, test work, bacterial leaching
Solvent Extraction – Electrowinning ; Mixer-settlers,
electrowinning cells, flow sheets ; Carbon-in-pulp & carbon-
in-leach for gold ; steps, leaching rates, adsorption on carbon,
desorption and electrowinning ;Pyrometallurgy
copper smelting & refining ;zinc smelting & electrowinning
Electrometallurgy.

7 Sustainability Issues
Sustainability issues, energy, High Pressure Grinding Rolls
Mine-to-Mill, costs; water, cyanide & the environment
Energy Mass balance in Mining ?
Course Delivery: mainly lectures, group discussion, presentations by
students , reading,, analyzing and summarizing, assignments, and
tutorials, and e-learning

Course Assessment: A continuous assessment of a minimum of 50% and

examination maximum of 50% to be weighted.

Attendance , on time delivery of assignments are very important.

The following presentation is a background information useful for the course
in Mineral Processing .

The following materials/ sources are used for this course note
How Mining works ( Dunbar, 2016, SME);
Edumine courses on Mineral processing prepared by Fathi
Habishi

Professional development course of the University of Queens land,

Western Australian School of Mines ( WASAM) and IM4DC of the
University of Western Australia and Extractive hub.

Mineral Processing Technology BA Wills 7th edition (2006)

Mineral Exploration and Mining Essentials ( By R. Stevens, 2010)

Mineral Processing Design and operation ( Gupta and Yan, 2006)

Girma Woldetinsae
The Business of Mining starts with the value chain

Source : UQ: professional development Program

Video on
 Basics
1. Chemical elements : Pure substances consisting of one type of atom and theses are
the building blocks of matter.
Examples : Al : Aluminum, Ag: Silver , Au : Gold .

2. Compounds: A compound is a combination two and more elements

Example : Salt ( Na , Cl)
Copper Sulfate ( Cu, S, O )

3. Mineral: A solid naturally occurring, inorganic compound having a definite chemical

composition ( of elements).
Examples : Hematite ( Fe2 O3): Iron oxide , is the main source of iron
Sphalerite (ZnS): Zinc sulfide and Galena (PbS)
Lead-Zinc and Silver deposits

4. Rock : A rock is solid assemblage of minerals . A soil is also an assemblage of Mineral ,

but not solid produced by weathering of rock ( part of a rock cycle) ….

5. Ore deposit : An ore deposit is a solid, naturally occurring mineral concentration from
which one or more valuable constituents are economically extracted.
 Rock Cycle

W.S, Dunbar (2016): How Mining works, SME

Base Metal and Precious Metal
A base metal is a metal basic to industry and society such as
iron, copper, lead, zinc, and aluminum.

Precious metal : is a rare, naturally occurring metallic

element of high economic value such as gold and silver and
the platinum group metals: palladium, rhodium, iridium,
osmium, and ruthenium.

Ore grade : is the concentration of economic mineral or metal

in an ore deposit. A fundamental unit used in defining grade is
tonnage.

One metric ton (1 t) is 1,000 kg ; 1 kg= 2.2 lb

Historical perspectives/ Civilizations /Innovations and
Mining
When is Processing started ?
Mining’s Historic Role

1. Lower Paleolithic
Ca 2,50000-200,000 BC
Metallic copper was produced by
2. Middle Paleolithic the reduction of its oxide ores in
Ca 200,000-50,000 BC Stone age primitive furnaces. The first metal
produced by man, around 4000
3. Upper Paleolithic BC.
Ca 50,000-10000 Bc slowly superseded by bronze :
( which is a copper alloy
4. Meso lithic /Neolithic) New containing about 10% tin, easy to
Ca 10,000- 3000 Bc Stone age melt and to cast).

5. Bronze age Bronze was either produced by mixing

Ca 3000-1000 BC tin produced from its oxide by
reduction with metallic copper, or by
6. Iron age reducing a mixture of copper ore with a
Ca 1000 Bc- Present tin ore;
Roman coin: Copper was one of the first
metals used to make coins
 The seven metals of Antiquity
Two more metals lead and mercury became known , bringing the total
number of metals known to the ancient people seven including Gold and Silver.

What were the reasons for the early availability of these metals ?

I. some of these metals occur in the native state, for example gold, silver,
copper, iron (meteoric), and mercury;

II. the oxides of copper, iron, tin, and lead are readily reduced below
800°C - such a temperature can be easily attained by burning carbonaceous
material; and

III. some of these metals have low melting points, for example, lead and
tin, while mercury is already liquid at room temperature, thus they are easy
to recover.

IV. Impurities in a metal lower the melting point considerably; for example,
iron containing 4% carbon already melts at 1100°C while the pure metal
melts at 1540°C.

Metals used by the ancient people were seldom pure.

 Iron age Ca 1000 Bc- Present
Iron became known much later than copper although iron ores are
more abundant than copper ores and almost as easy to smelt. This
may be due to the fact that copper can be shaped by cold-
hammering, whereas iron must be hammered hot. The Iron Age
began around 2000 BC.

Massive changes of
civilization and technology
came with Iron age with
heralding of new mining
industry, Iron age
The middle Ages

The production of metallic zinc was described in a Hindu around 1200 AD.
The new "tin-like" metal was made by indirectly heating calamine with organic
matter in a covered crucible fitted with a condenser.

Zinc vapor was evolved and the vapor was air cooled in the condenser
located below the refractory crucible. By 1374, the Hindus had recognized that
zinc was a new metal, and a limited amount of commercial zinc production
was under way.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, three new metals - namely arsenic,
antimony, and bismuth - became known in Europe in the elemental state.
The translation of Arabic texts into Latin, and henceforth the flow of
chemical knowledge to Europe, and the appearance of the
Renaissance in Italy, that the art of metal extraction started to take
shape.

From India, zinc manufacture moved to China where it developed as

an industry to supply the needs of brass manufacture. The Chinese
learned about zinc production and from China zinc production became
known in Europe.

The Chinese also prepared another alloy which looked like silver but
did not contain silver; instead, it contained copper. They called it
pai-thung, i.e., white copper. Much later, it was found out this alloy
contained a new metal called nickel.
 Local Unknown resource

Source:
https://www.rsc.org/iypt/iypt-elements/?utm_source=rsc-periodic-table-
site&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=iypt-banner
 Industrial Revolution and Mining

The entire modern world, the modern world economy that came roughly
around 1800 onward is the fossil fuel age. It's the age of coal, oil, and gas

The most important machine of

modern history, is the steam engine
(Invented by James Watt) and
marketed around 1776. It
transformed the world economy
fundamentally by allowing to tap coal
for massive amounts of energy. Coal
created the world
starting around 1800, when the world economy
starts to grow in the modern economic era,
because of coal and of James Watt.; massive
amounts of energy were able to tap. And coal
created the modern world.
Internal combustion engine

Mid 1800 then comes

the new discovery the
internal combustion
engines, which allowed
to use petroleum and
drive the automotive
industry
 The Gas turbines Innovations

The third major breakthrough, the gas turbine, enabled the use of natural gas to
create massive amounts of power, to generate electricity, to move giant ocean
freight, power today's jet airlines.

The steam engine, the internal combustion engine, the gas turbines are a series
of breakthroughs that created the modern energy, but all fundamentally part of the
mining sector, the extractive industry sector.
 Georgius Agricola (1494-1555), a medical
doctor from Saxony, whose writings
became the basis of mining and metallurgy
for over two centuries.

6th century, two important books on metallurgy appeared.

1. De La Pirotechnia, appeared in 1540; its author Vannoccio Biringuccio

(1480-1538) was working in the Armory of Siena in Italy, The book, written in
Italian, discuss ores, assaying, smelting, separating gold from silver,
making of alloys, melting, casting, and fireworks.

2. De Re Metallica, appeared in 1556; a year after the death of its author,

Georgius Agricola (Figure above): A medical doctor from Saxony travelled in
the mining districts and wrote many books in Latin. The title means Of Things
Metallic;

This was a reference on mining and metallurgy for two centuries. Translated in
many languages. An English translation was made in 1912 by Herbert Hoover
and his wife.
Herbert Hoover, (born August 10, 1874, West Branch, Iowa, U.S.—died October
20, 1964, New York, 31st president of the United States (1929–33). Graduated with
Geology from Stanford University and a Mining Engineer before he became a
president. His father was a hardworking blacksmith and dealer in his home town.

Hoover’s reputation as a humanitarian—earned during and after World War I as he

rescued millions of Europeans from starvation—faded from public consciousness
when his administration proved unable to alleviate widespread joblessness,
homelessness, and hunger in his own country during the early years of the Great
Depression.
More: https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Herbert+Hoover+
The American Indians in Ecuador in South America collected silver-like metallic
particles found near the river bed and mixed them with gold to make jewellery. They
were unable to melt these particles. After the Spanish Conquest, the Spaniards, also
unable to melt them, called them platina. The metal platinum was found later to be the
main component of these particles.

In the early smelting processes, charcoal made from forest timber was used. Later on,
mined coal was introduced, but it was soon realized that it softened in the furnace and
spoiled the metallurgical processes. This factor, together with the mining difficulties
such as coal-gas explosions in mines, ventilation and drainage, as well as the laws
prohibiting the destruction of forest, contributed to the increased price of timber.

This problem was solved when, in 1607, coal was first converted into coke. This simple
step revolutionized the iron industry, for coke, being hard and porous, is able to
withstand a far greater burden without crushing, thereby making possible the
construction of much larger furnaces with resultant increase in output.
Asst 1 : Group work : Coal preparation and Iron ore Processing Discuss the
processing methods in detailed : ( Theory, instrumentation and flowchart).

Two groups
Submission date no later than Nov 30, 2023 and presentation
The Eighteenth Century

Specimens from different localities were supplied to laboratories.

Results indicated 13 new metals were discovered. These are (in order of
their discovery):
Cobalt, platinum, nickel, manganese, molybdenum, tellurium,
tungsten, uranium, zirconium, titanium, yttrium, beryllium, and
chromium.

Training in the fields of geology, mining, metal extraction and metallurgy was
accomplished by schools in many cities.

Attempts made that led to the understanding of the nature of fire and the
smelting process including the discovery of Oxygen and the
phenomenon of combustion as an oxidation process.
In 1783 a revolutionary step of smelting took place when hydrogen was
used to prepare metallic tungsten by the gaseous reduction of its oxide.

Although hydrogen is a more powerful reducing agent than hot carbon, it

failed to liberate the alkali metals, the alkaline earth metals, and
aluminum from their oxides
The Nineteenth Century

The Italian scientist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) discovered electric

current a very important tool for metallurgists. The newly invented Volta cell
was by the British chemist Humphry Davy (1778-1829) to discover new
metals.

He joined a large number of these cells in series, and able to get a large
current. Tried to decompose aqueous potash, but got nothing but hydrogen
and oxygen. Later, tried solid potash, moistened to conduct current; and
noticed that something burned brightly at the cathode.

That was potassium metal, strongly reactive and burned in air. In the same
way, he electrolyzed soda ash and sodium metal can be liberated.

The work of Davy and others opened a new era in metallurgy.

Aluminum oxide was so resistant to all methods of decomposition . The Danish
scientist Christian Ørsted (1777-1851) reacted aluminum chloride with potassium
amalgam from which minute particles of aluminum were recovered by distilling off
the mercury.

The method applied to other compounds of chlorides and fluorides, and in this way
zirconium, titanium, cerium, thorium, beryllium, boron, silicon, tantalum, and
yttrium were isolated. Once aluminum was available, it was used for liberating
other metals from their oxides.

In 1859 the spectroscope was invented by the German scientists Bunsen and
Kirchhoff. This led to the discovery of four new metals namely cesium, rubidium,
thallium, and indium. In 1869, the Russian chemist Dimitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
(1834-1907) discovered the Periodic Law. Within two decades the three metals
gallium, scandium, and germanium were discovered.

In the 1850s, Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) in England invented the pneumatic

process for steelmaking. This made a great advance in metallurgy because it
reduced the time of transforming iron into steel from a few days to a few minutes
became a material of construction for bridges, ships, and buildings.
 Great technological advance was the invention of the dynamo in the
1870s that made available electricity in bulk which encouraged the
expansion of electrolytic copper refining to supply the pure copper needed
for the electrical industry.

Important application was in the electrolytic production of aluminum. Once

aluminum was available inexpensively, it was used as a material of
construction.

In1897 radioactivity, by the French physicist Henri Becquerel was

discovered.. This led Madame Curie (1867-1934) to the discovery of
polonium and radium in 1898 and a year later André Debierne
discovered actinium.

Early 20s europium and lutetium, and later promethium, the last
members of the rare earths, and two new radioactive metals - protactinium
and francium - were discovered.
In 1914 the invention of X-ray spectrum analysis by Henry Moseley led to the
discovery of hafnium and rhenium.

The invention of the cyclotron was responsible for the discovery of the new
metal technetium and the transuranium metals.

In 1939 the discovery of uranium fission and the possibility of harnessing

atomic energy was realized. To achieve this goal, metallic uranium would be
required on a large scale. Since no rich deposits of the metal were known at that
time, poor ores had to be processed. This introduced the large-scale application
of ion exchange and solvent extraction in metallurgy.

The need for metals having special properties for their use in nuclear reactors
resulted in the sudden interest in previously rarely-used metals such as
beryllium, zirconium, cadmium, sodium, potassium, thorium, and the rare earths.
Thus, novel methods of extraction were devised and applied on a large scale,
for example, chlorination, fluorination, and fused-salt electrolysis.
Hafnium is ductile metal with a brilliant silvery luster. The Dutch physicist Dirk
Coster and the Hungarian Swedish chemist George Charles von Hevesy discovered
(1923) hafnium in Norwegian and Greenland zircons by analyzing their X-ray
spectra. Hafnium is dispersed in Earth’s crust to the extent of three parts per
million and is invariably found in zirconium minerals up to a few percent
compared with zirconium.
Periodic table—i.e., those with atomic numbers greater than 92. Twenty-six of these
elements have been discovered and named or are awaiting confirmation of their
discovery. Eleven of them, from neptunium through lawrencium, belong to the actinoid
series. The others, which have atomic numbers higher than 103, are referred to as the
transactinoids. All the transuranium elements are unstable, decaying radioactively, with
half-lives that range from tens of millions of years to mere fractions of a second.
The improvement in the design of the jet engine, and the suitability of
titanium and its alloys to meet the strains imposed by ultra-high speed
flight, besides their exceptionally high strength-to-weight ratio,
resulted in the fast development of the commercial production of
titanium.

The discovery of the semi-conductive properties of germanium led not

only to commercial production of this metal but also to the preparation
of related metals such as silicon, selenium, and tellurium on a
commercial scale.

Further, the use of such metals for the electronic industry called for high
level of purity not known before. This resulted in the invention of new
methods for metal refining like zone refining.

If high purity had to be achieved, laboratory methods for determination of

impurities, at such unknown low levels, had to be devised. Polarography,
activation analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy, etc, were
therefore either improved or invented to cope with the situation.
The competition in sending men to the moon was a strong reason to
develop new alloys, new rocket fuels, and new materials of construction.

The appearance of new ideas in chemical thermodynamics and kinetics by

Nernst, Van't Hoff, Haber, Ostwald, Le Chatelier, Arrhenius, and others laid
the foundation for a theoretical weapon to attack and solve problems related
to metal recovery.

The improvement in chemical engineering practice resulted in the cheap and

large-scale production of important gases such as oxygen, chlorine,
hydrogen, etc. Thus, the oxygen lance technique for steelmaking became a
reality, the oxygen pressure leaching of ores became feasible.

The use of chlorine in extracting metals from ores was greatly advanced,
and the hydrogen reduction of iron ores, or the production of metals by
hydrogen reduction from aqueous solution, became commercial processes.
The role played by refractories/ the basic refractories, is a milestone in the
development of pyrometallurgical practice. Closely related to these
achievements is the introduction of new unit operations such as flotation
and fluidization.
Summary : Innovations and Metals discovery
Critical minerals
Rare-earth elements and platinum-group elements particularly are
broadly viewed as critical.

• Criteria for selecting critical minerals

– (1) How important is it to our present industrial

civilization and standard of living?
– (2) how much of it do we have and to what extent
is it economically and technologically available?
– and (3) how and where can we find more?”
– (Brobst and Pratt, 1973, p. 1).
• 23 mineral
commodities
currently among
those viewed as
important to the
national economy
and national
security of the
United States:
 Industrial Minerals

• There is a group of some 300

minerals that are used as such, or
General Applications
used as a raw material for the
chemical or other industries, i.e.
they are not used for the Abrasives Foundry castings
production of metals. Absorbents Glass
• These are known as "industrial Agriculture Metallurgy
minerals." They may or may not be Cement Paint
beneficiated. For example, clays, Ceramics Pharmaceuticals
sands, and limestone are used in Chemicals Pigments
the construction industry. Construction Plastics
• Sulfur, phosphate rock, fluorite are Drilling mud Paper
used in the chemical industry. Electronics Refractory
Diamonds and other precious and Filtration Synthetic fibers
semi-precious stones are used in Flame retardants
jewellery.
 Industrial Minerals Impact

Economic Contributions

The National Mining Association estimates U.S. mining in 2011 directly and indirectly generated
more than 2.11 million U.S. jobs, $138 billion in U.S. labor income and $232 billion of U.S. GDP.

Industrial minerals contribution to U.S. GDP is estimated to be $33.5 billion

Value of nonmetallic minerals (per year)

Aggregates $52.3 billion
Industrial minerals $33.5 billion
Total Nonmetallic minerals $85.8 billion
What happens after the ore or material is mined or extracted ?

You are all tackled this question in different ways and the following tells us
what happens or will happen for the ore or material extracted

Extracted Separation of Pure

Further
ore material of metal/
processing interest
/material material

The extracted materials must go through a number of different

operations to obtain the final products. This is called Mineral
dressing, mineral beneficiation, mineral concentration, mineral
engineering, mineral extraction.

Metallurgy is the art and science of obtaining metals from ores and
their fabrication into useful products. It can be divided into two principal
fields: mineral processing and metal processing.
 Fields of Metallurgy
Field Description Example of topics

Theory and practice of liberation of

Crushing and grinding,
minerals from ores and their separation
Beneficiation magnetic and electrical
by physical methods at ambient
methods, flotation, etc.
conditions
Mineral
Processing
Chemical methods sometimes at high
Leaching, precipitation,
Extractive temperature and pressure for treating
electrolysis, oxidation,
metallurgy ores to recover their metal values in a
reduction, etc.
pure form

Crystal structure, effect of

Physical Study of physical properties of metals
impurities, metallography,
metallurgy and alloys, preparation of alloys
heat treatment, etc.

Engineering
Processing of metals in the molten state Casting, welding, etc.
metallurgy
Metal
Processing
Mechanical Forging, rolling, extrusion,
Processing of metals in the solid state
metallurgy piercing

Preparation of metals in
Powder Processing of metal powders into finished
powder form, hot pressing,
metallurgy products
etc.
 Mineral Processing and metals from ores
Mineral processing involves the treatment of ores to get metals.

Two distinct operations:

one is physical and called beneficiation or mineral dressing, and the second
is chemical called extractive metallurgy. The operations are overlapping. In
some cases, a physical method of separating the components of the material
processed is inserted in the scheme of metal extraction. In few cases, the
mineral raw material is directly subjected to chemical treatment without being
beneficiated.
Beneficiation is concerned with the enrichment of ores and separation of
unwanted gangue minerals so that the subsequent treatment to get the metals
by the extractive metallurgist is more efficient.

The beneficiation engineer uses only mechanical, physical, and physico-

chemical methods for conducting his operations, which are all done at normal
temperature and pressure. These operations can be divided into two
distinct steps.

• Liberation: in this operation, the rock is broken down by mechanical means

and the individual mineral components become independent of each other,
i.e., each is detached or liberated.

• Separation: in this operation, the valuable minerals are separated from the
rest by means of physical and physico-chemical methods making use of
differences in specific gravity, magnetic properties, etc.
 Scientific basic of
mineral processing.
Extractive metallurgy is
the shaded area.

The beneficiation engineer uses only mechanical, physical, and physico-chemical

methods, the extractive metallurgist uses chemical methods.

All beneficiation operations are conducted at normal temperature and pressure,

extractive metallurgical processes are seldom conducted at ambient conditions;
instead, they are usually at high temperature, and sometimes also at high
pressure.
An extractive metallurgist must have a good knowledge of

• chemistry: physical, electro, organic, and analytical;

• mineralogy: crystallography and the properties of minerals; and
• engineering: mathematics, physics, economics, and computer applications.

The border area between chemistry and mineralogy is mineral chemistry, i.e.,
inorganic chemistry. The border area between chemistry and engineering is
chemical engineering.

Extractive metallurgy is thus related to all of these disciplines. It is also closely

related to the chemical industry, e.g., fertilizers, industrial gases, etc.

Extractive metallurgy, therefore, is concerned with chemical methods for treating

ores to recover their metal values in a pure form.

It is one of the oldest branches of chemistry. In its modern form, it is broadly

divided into three areas: pyro-, hydro-, and electrometallurgy.
Pyrometallurgy: this is the oldest sector of extractive metallurgy and involves
the dry methods, conducted at high temperature, such as oxidation, reduction,
chlorination, melting, slagging, etc.; it often involves the melting of the minerals
and the separation of the valuable components in the liquid state. Iron, copper
and lead ores are typically treated by this technology.

Hydrometallurgy: this is a relatively new sector of extractive metallurgy and

involves the wet methods, conducted at room temperature or near the boiling
point of water. It includes the leaching of ores or the precipitation of a metal or
its compounds from aqueous solutions, as well as methods of isolation and
purification such as ion exchange and solvent extraction. Gold, uranium, and
aluminum ores are typically treated by this technology.

Electrometallurgy: this is the newest domain of extractive metallurgy and

involves all processes based on the use of electric current for metal recovery or
refining either in aqueous solution or in a fused salt. Aluminum, copper, and
zinc are typically produced by this technology.
These areas, however, cannot be considered isolated one from the other,
because a combination of these processes is generally used in the
production of a single metal.

Examples : Bauxite, the most important aluminum ore, is always treated by

a hydrometallurgical method, but the final metal production step is achieved
by an electrometallurgical technique.

Uranium ores are also treated by a hydrometallurgical technique, while the

metal production is achieved by pyrometallurgical methods. Also, there are
different routes for extracting the same metal.

80% of the zinc produced annually is by the hydrometallurgy-

electrometallurgy route while the remaining 20% is produced by
pyrometallurgical technique.

In the case of magnesium, the amounts are nearly equal.

This classification of pyro-, hydro-, and electrometallurgy is convenient because
each field has its own types of equipment, techniques, and theoretical basis.

The hydrometallurgist is concerned with the design of leaching tanks, pressure

reactors, decantation and filtration systems, pumps for transportation of
aqueous solutions, etc. He would also be concerned with reaction kinetics and
the chemistry of ions in aqueous solutions.

The pyrometallurgist, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with fuels,

furnaces, refractories, and molten materials like matte, slag, or metals. He
would also be interested in thermodynamics, and reactions between solids and
gases at high temperature, handling of hot gases laden with dust, etc.

The electrometallurgist must have a strong knowledge of electrochemistry and

electrode reactions. He would be concerned with the design of electrolytic cells,
electrodes, purification of solutions and recycling, fused salts, etc.
All extractive metallurgists, whether in the hydro-, pyro-, or
electrometallurgy area, are interested in the design of new processes as
well as the analysis and improvement of those already existing to increase
yields and to lower production costs.

Sometimes the term Process Metallurgy is introduced to cover the

mathematical modelling of the different areas of metal extraction. For
example, flow of fluids (gases, aqueous solutions, suspensions, molten
materials, etc.) and heat transfer. It is basically the application of chemical
engineering principles to metallurgical processes.

Extractive metallurgy is based on three elements:

• chemical reactions of the processes taking place;

• equipment where reactions take place; and
• flow sheets, i.e., the movement of material from one reactor to the
other.

An approximate scheme for the extraction of metals from ores is

shown next.
An approximate scheme for the extraction of
metals from ores.
 Stages of comminution
Comminution or size reduction, size separation, concentration or beneficiation,
and dewatering. The course will explain all the processes physical and chemical
and refining ( to some extent) and equipment involved in the operations.

What is the first stage of comminution ?

1. Blasting : Blast holes will be drilled in pattern and filled with an explosives
( ANFO)

2. Crushing : The second stage of comminution . It results in rock particles with

sizes ranging between 10 and 50 mm ( Gyrator, cone, Jaw .. Etc )

3. Grinding; The third stage usually done in the processing plant. Crushed ore
is mixed with water to form slurry and this pumped into mills and the goal
is to reduce particles less than o 1mm (coarse followed by fine grind)
.