This article presents the mineralogical and chemical characteristics of zinc and lead smelting slags, with particular reference to the slags formed during the simultaneous production of Zn and Pb by the Imperial Smelting Process. These slags, because of the presence of many metals in their composition, mainly in the form of crystalline phases, are a valuable source for their extraction. Slags from Zn-Pb metallurgy are processed on an industrial scale using pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods, alongside which a number of experiments conducted to recover metals as efficiently as possible, including bioleaching experiments.
Keywords: lead; metal recovery; metallurgy; slag; zinc.