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5
Beneficiation Technology
After mining, the next step in traditional metal extraction is minerals processing,
in which the valuable minerals are liberated from the gangue material in the ore.
Following this, the minerals are sorted into a separate stream, using differences
between their physical properties and those of the gangue. In some cases, chemical
or thermal processes may be used to remove impurities from the concentrated min-
erals. As a nal step, the concentrated minerals may be agglomerated to make them
easier to ship and easier to handle in subsequent smelting processes.
In Chapter 3, the mining (collecting) of scrap aluminum was descr ...