Question

What are the leaching methods for the extraction of minerals from ores?

Answer 1

Leaching:

Leaching is a method that is frequently used in extractive metallurgy to treat ore with chemicals to transform the valuable metals inside into soluble salts while the impurities stay insoluble.

The three leaching techniques for removing minerals from ores include:

1. Slope leaching: after being dumped in enormous piles down a mountainside, crushed ore is continuously sprayed with water containing Thiobacillus. After metal extraction and possible bacterial regeneration in an oxidation pool, water collects at the bottom and is reprocessed.
2. Heap leaching: Finally, the ground ore is aligned in large heaps and processed in an oxidation pool.
3. In-situ leaching: involves pushing water containing Thiobacillus through openings in the ground to unextracted ore that is still there.