GOALS AND BASICS OF MINERAL PROCESSING
In the traditional sense, mineral processing is regarded as the processing of ores or other materials to yield concentrated products. Most of the processes involve physical concentration procedures during which the chemical nature of the mineral(s) in question does not change. In hydrometallurgical processing, however, chemical reactions invariably occur; these systems are operated at ambient or elevated temperatures depending on the kinetics of the processes. The lead zinc ore processing in the production of metals is to yield metals in their purest form. Mineral processing plays an integral part in achieving this objective. Figure 1 shows a generalized flow diagram for metals extraction from mining (step 1) through chemical processing. Steps 2 and 3 involve physical processing and steps 5 and 7 involve low-temperature chemical processing (hydrometallurgy). All four steps are considered part of mineral processing. High-temperature smelting and refining (pyrometall...