After extracting the crude metal from its ore, what should be the next logical step?
Refining
After mining the ore, it is crushed, ground and pulverized. Then the crushed ore is concentrated. Depending on the nature of the ore different methods like leaching, roasting or calcination are employed to obtain a reducible form of the metal. In most cases the reducible form is the oxide.
Depending upon the type of the metal, further reduction processes like electrolytic reduction or smelting is carried out and in most cases crude metal is obtained. But this crude metal still contains a lot of impurities. Based on the nature of the metal obtained, different refining processes like poling, liquation, electrolytic refining etc. are employed.
So the next logical step is refining.