ABSTRACT
Hydrometallurgy is a specialized branch of extractive metallurgy dealing with metal recovery from ore concentrates and other metallurgical intermediate products by wet methods. It means that the components of raw materials in demand are transferred in aqueous solutions, from which they are subsequently recovered in a convenient manner, e.g., by cementation, electrolysis, solvent extraction, precipitation, etc. The other branches are pyrometallurgy (treatment by thermal methods) and electrometallurgy (treatment by using an electric current).
