Editing Metallurgy (section)

==Extraction==
{{main|Extractive metallurgy}}
[[File:Yuan Dynasty - waterwheels and smelting.png|thumb|An illustration of a furnace bellows operated by [[waterwheel]]s during the [[Yuan Dynasty]] in China]]
[[Extractive metallurgy]] is the practice of removing valuable metals from an [[ore]] and refining the extracted raw metals into a purer form. In order to convert a metal [[oxide]] or [[sulfide|sulphide]] to a purer metal, the ore must be [[redox|reduced]] physically, [[chemistry|chemically]], or [[electrolyte|electrolytically]]. Extractive [[metallurgist]]s are interested in three primary streams: feed, concentrate (metal oxide/sulphide) and [[tailings]] (waste).

After mining, large pieces of the ore feed are broken through crushing or grinding in order to obtain particles small enough, where each particle is either mostly valuable or mostly waste. Concentrating the particles of value in a form supporting separation enables the desired metal to be removed from waste products.

Mining may not be necessary, if the ore body and physical environment are conducive to [[In-situ leaching|leaching]]. Leaching dissolves minerals in an ore body and results in an enriched solution. The solution is collected and processed to extract valuable metals. Ore bodies often contain more than one valuable metal.

Tailings of a previous process may be used as a feed in another process to extract a secondary product from the original ore. Additionally, a concentrate may contain more than one valuable metal. That concentrate would then be processed to separate the valuable metals into individual constituents.