Aqueous Pressure Oxidation of Minerals - A Salient Development in Hydrometallurgy

Aqueous pressure oxidation has been developed to a viable technology. It has found extensive commercial applications in mineral industry. Numerous pressure processing plants have been constructed worldwide for production of nickel, cobalt, copper and zinc from ores, concentrates and other metallurgical intermediates or secondary materials and for pretreatment of gold refractory ores. Successful operation of these plants provides hydrometallurgy with experience and confidence for its potential development and applications. This paper is intended to review the development and applications of pressure oxidation technology and the chemistry involved as well.