Professor Ed Asselin inspired this book to disseminate expert knowledge and insights about the field of copper hydrometallurgy. This book provides examples of meeting challenges effectively and applying established, front-line and practical wisdom. It’s as if the reader had a sit down conversation with the author.

The book begins with an overview of the thermodynamics of leaching. Choosing thermodynamic data wisely is considered and finding out what is possible with those data. Arguably, the key step in hydrometallurgy is leaching. The following chapters deal with leaching in detail, including kinetics, heap leaching, concentrate leaching, and bioleaching. Solvent extraction follows leaching in practice and is developed next with a focus on practical considerations. The following chapter discusses metal production by electrowinning and purification by electrorefining. Lastly, applications of ion exchange are considered versatile methods to solve a variety of purification problems in copper hydrometallurgy.