Recent Advances in Hydro- and Biohydrometallurgy

This new book is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Minerals from 2018 to 2019.  It is edited by Kostas A. Komnitsas, Technical University of Crete,  Greece.

In his preface, the editor says that "the roots of hydrometallurgy can be traced back to the era of alchemists, while modern hydrometallurgy dates back to 1887, when two important processes were invented, namely the cyanidation process for the treatment of gold ores and the Bayer process for the treatment of bauxites and the production of alumina".

"On the other hand", he states, "there is evidence that bioleaching was used in the Rio Tinto area in Spain prior to Roman occupation for the recovery of copper, as well as in China some 2000 years ago. Modern commercial biohydrometallurgical applications for the processing of ores commenced in the 1950s, focusing on the bioleaching of copper. Since then, biohydrometallurgy has been used for the treatment of various primary and secondary raw materials and the recovery of several metals, including gold, copper, and rare-earth elements. It must be underlined that the critical role of bio- and hydrometallurgy in achieving sustainable development in various industrial sectors was identified more than 30 years ago".

More information on the book can be found on the web-site, which includes a link to a pdf file containing all the papers published in the book. We look forward to updates on the work reported at Biomining '20 next year in Falmouth. Minerals is a media partner for Flotation '19 in Cape Town.