1. Definitions

In France, the term "extractive metallurgy" refers both to the production of metals from their raw and/or enriched ores, and to the manufacture and processing of alloys, in order to obtain a material with very specific properties.

In English-speaking countries, extractive metallurgy refers to operations aimed at extracting metal from ore or composite materials. The term encompasses all operations leading from the ore to the metal.

For a long time, extractive metallurgy was an integral part of the chemical industry, because the operations are often identical, even though the former provides the basic materials for the latter, and the industrial operations are very different:

• chemical engineers work with fluids of low density, surface tension and viscosity. In contrast, metallurgists often work...