Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80 – 88

www.elsevier.com/locate/hydromet

Challenging the traditional hydrometallurgy

curriculum—an industry perspective
Michael B. Mooimana, Kathryn C. Sole b,*, David J. Kinneberg c
a
MDM Partners Inc., 200 Conant Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA
b
Anglo Research, a division of Anglo Operations Limited, P.O. Box 106, Crown Mines 2025, South Africa
c
Metalor USA Refining Corporation, P.O. Box 255, North Attleborough, MA 02761, USA
Received 19 November 2002; received in revised form 6 October 2004; accepted 6 November 2004
Available online 12 September 2005

Abstract

During the past 20 years, the hydrometallurgist’s role in industry has changed considerably. Flowsheet development and
technical troubleshooting are now smaller components of the job and, more often than not, issues of operations management,
environmental regulations, worker safety, risk assessment, and finances are more important. From an industry perspective, the
traditional hydrometallurgy curriculum is seen to have shortcomings in preparing hydrometallurgists for an industrial career.
The narrowly defined curriculum does not take into account the application of hydrometallurgical concepts to related fields such
as surface finishing, recycling, and the production of advanced materials by aqueous processing techniques. A critical review of
perceptions of weaknesses in the current system is presented, along with proposed improvements and modifications which, if
implemented, should prepare graduates more appropriately for the demands of the modern workplace.
D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Extractive metallurgy; Hydrometallurgy; Curriculum; Career; University

1. Introduction through occurred in the 1880s, with the discovery

The emergence of hydrometallurgy as an indepen-
dent discipline can be traced back to the days of the
alchemists (Habashi, 1993). De Re Metallica dis-
cusses knowledge of replacement reactions, such as
the cementation of copper by iron, and the use of aqua
regia as early as 600 to 900 AD. A major break-
* Corresponding author. Fax: +27 11 377 4838.
E-mail address: ksole@angloresearch.com
(K.C. Sole).
0304-386X/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.hydromet.2004.11.013
that gold and silver can be leached in cyanide solu-
tion. The commercialisation of this process revolutio-
nized the gold industry, and remains the backbone of
gold extractive metallurgy more than a century later
(Fleming, 1992). The Bayer process for refining alu-
mina and the electrorefining processes for gold
(Fisher, 1987) and copper (Biswas and Davenport,
1994) are all aqueous-based processes developed in
the 1880s that are still relevant today.
Leaching and electrometallurgy formed the early
foundations of hydrometallurgy. The modern disci-
 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88
pline emerged with the development of solvent extrac-
tion (SX) and ion exchange (IX) as core separation
processes crucial to the success of the Manhattan
project in the 1940s. Although developed for the
separation of actinides and rare-earth elements, these
unit operations were later applied to the recovery of
base and precious metals. More recently, biological
extraction processes and the use of high temperatures
and pressures have been added to the arsenal of
hydrometallurgical unit operations, as demonstrated
by relatively recent processes for the recovery of
copper (McElroy and Young, 1999) and nickel
(Anthony and Flett, 1997) from materials that could
only be previously treated pyrometallurgically.
It is significant to note that technological develop-
ments over the past century have seldom been knowl-
edge-driven. Instead, advances have been driven by
such factors as the demand for a higher purity metal or
compound, the need for a new product with specific
characteristics, the economics of a processing route,
or, increasingly, more stringent environmental or
health and safety requirements and legislation.
2. Changes in traditional hydrometallurgy during
the last 20 years
2.1. Global shift in mining activities
Paradoxically, as hydrometallurgy has matured as a
discipline, many ore deposits in the industrialized
world have become depleted. Mining and the recovery
of metals have come under severe scrutiny by both
regulators and the public. In some cases, this effect
has been compounded by political and environmental
pressures, illustrated, for example, by the anti-cyanide
lobby in impeding development of gold deposits in
the United States. The bulk of the development and
practice of extractive metallurgy, and with it hydro-
metallurgy, has moved from the United States to less-
developed or mineral-rich regions like Australia, Rus-
sia, China, South America, and southern Africa. In
fact, many US mineral and metal companies have now
found themselves part of larger non-US based multi-
national corporations. Relocation does not mean,
however, that environment responsibilities can be
neglected. The worldwide environmental impact of
the Chernobyl engineering disaster demonstrated
81
that we are a global community. Less dramatic (but
perhaps more profound) effects are seen in the rising
mercury levels of Amazonia and the increasing blood
lead measurements of Chinese and Mexican children.
In addition to the large multinationals that control
much of the formal global mining industry, an increas-
ing impact of small and micro-mining enterprises is
seen. This is particularly evident in countries with high
rates of unemployment in the formal sector that rely
heavily on the entrepreneurial skills of their informal
sector. Sadly, it is precisely these small operations that
create environmental havoc by inappropriately apply-
ing hydrometallurgical processes for quick profit.
2.2. Metallurgical R&D and education
Clearly, the United States is no longer the centre of
gravity for hydrometallurgical R&D. Much of the
pioneering research in hydrometallurgy was done in
the prized industrial research laboratories of compa-
nies like Exxon, Kennecott, and Anaconda. Most of
the large private laboratories have now closed, with
work subsequently taken up by government-sponsored
institutions such as the US Bureau of Mines (now
disbanded), Mintek (South Africa), and CSIRO (Aus-
tralia). Today, these facilities are also feeling the pres-
sure of reduced or terminated government sponsorship
and are turning their efforts to dindustrialT projects. The
primary processing of ores and concentrates, on which
traditional hydrometallurgy research focussed, is being
replaced by interest in recycling and reprocessing of
secondary materials. Emphasis on environmental con-
cerns and sustainable development is growing, while
the escalating costs of experimental research have led
to greater reliance on simulation and modelling.
In the educational area, university departments are
struggling to produce relevant work, undergraduate
enrollment has steadily dropped, and many graduates
are required to find employment in allied fields. The
diminishing importance of metallurgy is reflected by
most of these departments being absorbed into Mate-
rials or Chemical Engineering departments.
2.3. The career path of a hydrometallurgist
The traditional role of a hydrometallurgist was in
the areas of operations (technical and management),
where the pinnacle of a career generally culminated in
82 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88
an appointment as a senior executive or consulting
metallurgist for a large multinational mining company.
Today many engineers trained in the field of extractive
metallurgy, and more specifically hydrometallurgy,
find themselves in very different roles during their
careers. Instead of developing flowsheets to exploit
mineral resources, they apply their skills managing
wastewater treatment operations or environmental
remediation projects, plating electronic components
with multilayers of base and precious metals, recover-
ing metals from scrap, manufacturing semiconductors
or ceramics, or applying the hydrometallurgical con-
cepts of leaching, separation, precipitation, and elec-
trodeposition in other fields, such as materials science
and engineering, production of bulk chemicals or high-
purity materials, or corrosion prevention.
In addition to operations management, a technical
knowledge of complex environmental issues, risk
assessment, materials selection, and process model-
ling and control is vital. Further challenges include
the management of multicultural and multidisciplin-
ary teams, and the frequent requirements to work in
developing countries, or under difficult climatic and
geographic conditions. It is clear that certain aspects
of the traditional undergraduate hydrometallurgy cur-
riculum are no longer relevant, and that some con-
siderably different skills must be taught if this field
is to survive into the new millennium.
3. Issues in the education of hydrometallurgists
3.1. Hydrometallurgical education needs to change to
reflect changes in the field
In his text on hydrometallurgy, Habashi (1993)
has done a good job of drawing together various
aspects of this rather diverse field, but he relies on
the classical division of extractive metallurgy into
pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and electrometal-
lurgy. Hydrometallurgy itself is considered to be
the science of metal extraction by leaching, separa-
tion by solvent extraction (SX) or ion exchange (IX),
followed by precipitation. Electrolytic recovery of
metals from solution or electrorefining techniques,
even if carried out in aqueous solutions, is viewed
as the separate discipline of electrometallurgy. We
believe the classical division, although useful 20
years ago for pedagogic reasons, is unnecessarily
restrictive and needs revision. At a minimum, we
believe most of electrometallurgy falls under the
umbrella of hydrometallurgy. (We appreciate that
this leaves molten salt processes hanging, but these
could easily fall under the pyrometallurgy umbrella.)
Hydrometallurgists are well versed in the basics of
electrometallurgy given that the fundamental leach-
ing reactions are electrochemical in nature. A far
more encompassing scenario has been proposed by
the Australian A J Parker Cooperative Research
Centre for Hydrometallurgy (see Table 1). This is a
well-considered approach with particular merit in
countries such as Australia, South Africa, and
Chile, where extractive metallurgy remains a corner-
stone of the economy. However, hydrometallurgy
(and for that matter, extractive metallurgy) is one
of the great cross-disciplinary fields, drawing in
aspects of chemistry, chemical engineering, corrosion
science, organic chemistry, separation science, miner-
alogy, etc. Simply by virtue of this multidisciplinary
nature, we should broaden our views even further,
rather than remain confined to the single context of
metal recovery.
Consider for a moment the application of aqu-
eous processing technologies in the field of materi-
als science (Mooiman and Sole, 1994). It is clear
that there are a diverse and growing number of
applications of aqueous-based processing techniques
beyond the field of classical hydrometallurgy. Many
of the aqueous processing techniques are variants of
standard hydrometallurgical operations. For exam-
ple, etching technologies for the production of semi-
conductors and electroplating technologies used in
the production of multilayer printed circuit boards
have their respective parallels in the hydrometallur-
gical techniques of leaching and electrowinning.
Furthermore, a wealth of knowledge has accumu-
lated over the last decade concerning fundamental
understanding of reactions at a molecular and
atomic level. Emerging fields such as nanotechnol-
ogy and even aspects of biotechnology could benefit
from insights that aqueous chemistry could bring.
Conversely, emerging new paradigms in chemis-
try, such as ionic liquids or molecular recognition
technology (MRT), have potential application in tra-
ditional hydrometallurgical processes. For example,
crown ether-based compounds, the development of
 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88 83

Table 1 Table 1 (continued)

A classification of hydrometallurgy, as proposed by the A J Parker
Metal recovery
Cooperative Research Centre for Hydrometallurgy, Australia
Precipitation/crystallisation of final products
Hydrometallurgy–minerals processing interface !Crystallisation by cooling
Simultaneous milling and leaching Environmental issues
Flotation Recycling
!Flotation of organic impurities !Process water
!Flotation of leach residues !Reagents (including recovery and destruction)
!Ionic flotation !Gases (including lime boil for ammonia)
Leaching processes Emission, effluent and waste
Pretreatment (including roasting) !Composition and origin within process
Oxidative leaching (including ferric leaching) !Gaseous emissions
Acid leaching !Suspended solids
Alkaline leaching !Dissolved solids
Metathetic leaching Acid mine drainage and abandoned mine sites
Irrigation leach processes (e.g., heap and dump leaching) Whole-flowsheet issues
Bacterial leaching processes Process mineralogy
Solid–liquid separation processes !Characterisation of feed, products and emissions
Filtration (including micro- and nanofiltration) !Characterisation of particles
Thickening and clarification (including coagulation, flocculation) Process modelling and control
Counter-current decantation !Fundamental thermodynamics and kinetics
Other equipment (centrifuges, hydrocyclones, etc.,) !Simulating unit operations (including reactor engineering)
Slurry transport !Simulating flowsheets
Separation and purification !Control of unit operations
Precipitation of impurities Engineering issues
!pH-controlled precipitation !Heat transfer, heat exchange, heat recovery
!Hydrothermal precipitation !Oxygen mass transfer
!Crystallisation (including scale formation) !Corrosion issues and materials selection
!Cementation and related reactions !Continuous pilot-plant trials and scale-up issues
!Electrolytic processes for impurity control
Solvent extraction
!SX process development (including liquid membranes) which was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in
!SX equipment 1987, are less than a decade later industrially
!Reagent development (including diluent effects, regeneration
employed in the MRT processing of precious metals
of extractant)
Adsorption and ion exchange in South Africa, Japan and Europe, and for the
!Activated carbon processes cleanup of various heavy metal waste streams (Bate-
!IX process development (including resin-in-pulp) man, 2002; Ichiishi et al., 2000; Amos et al., 2000).
!IX equipment development Recognizing that so many of the basic hydrome-
!Reagent development (including molecular recognition)
tallurgical principles are widely applicable, it is our
Membrane processes
!Reverse osmosis position that the field needs to be broadened to
!Ultrafiltration encompass allied fields that often fall bbetween the
!Electrodialysis cracksQ of other disciplines. Hydrometallurgy would
Chemical reactions become the centre of a larger cross-disciplinary field
!Oxyhydrolysis
dealing with all aspects of the chemistry and chemical
Metal recovery
Electrowinning/Electrorefining processes engineering of industrial aqueous-based processes. A
!Electrolytic process development start in this direction would be to rename the field
!Electrorefining processes (including anode treatment, byproduct Hydrotechnology or Chemical Engineering of Aqu-
recovery) eous Systems. The unifying core of the subject
!EW process optimisation (including non-aqueous electrolytes)
would still be the extraction and recovery of metals
!EW equipment development
Chemical reduction processes using aqueous solutions, but also included would be
!Pressure reduction the allied fields in which the principles of classical
!Other chemical reduction processes hydrometallurgy (leaching, separations, precipitation,
and electrolysis) apply.
84 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88
3.2. The necessity and opportunity for change
Implementing a broader definition of hydrometal-
lurgy enables us to better prepare our graduates for
careers which are likely to be found in a diversity of
fields of an increasingly cross-disciplinary nature.
This approach recognizes that the teachings and prin-
ciples from other fields are applicable; areas such as
biology, pharmacy, and petrochemistry offer enor-
mous potential for breakthroughs in traditional hydro-
metallurgical applications. It is important that the
knowledge base already developed is not lost, as
aqueous processing is often a simpler, better, and
more environmentally friendly alternative to estab-
lished technologies.
Unless the scope of hydrometallurgy changes, the
discipline will become increasingly less relevant in the
developed economies; hydrometallurgy could become
merely a small specialized sub-discipline of Chemical
Engineering or Materials Science. In so doing, much
of its special knowledge would be lost.
3.3. Shortcomings in current hydrometallurgical
education
We in industry have grown increasingly disen-
chanted with the quality and relevance of the hydro-
metallurgical research carried out at universities.
Quite frankly, there are few examples of significant
contributions to the field of hydrometallurgy emerging
from academic institutions, and there are too many
instances of corporate sponsorship of university
research in which the main target of the problem has
been lost (or superseded by a search for an esoteric
bfundamentalQ). Much of the research that eventually
is commercialized originates in corporate- or govern-
ment-funded industrial laboratories. The academics’
response often is that their role is to train graduates
and to perform bpureQ research, not to develop com-
mercially viable processes. Unfortunately, bpureQ
research has, by definition, no immediate application
and, in its pursuit, the academics lose relevance and
risk their independent departmental stature. This, in
turn, places hydrometallurgy’s specialized knowledge
at risk (thus violating a third function of academia—
the preservation of knowledge). We argue that other
branches of engineering seem to be able to both
educate and conduct relevant research, for example,
Materials Engineering or Computer Science. Is our
academic dilemma a result of the maturity of our field,
that not much remains to be discovered, and that all
we are doing now is filling in the gaps? We sense in
some academics a lost desire to be relevant or imagi-
native. Many of these shortcomings are due to insuf-
ficient cross-fertilization between industry and
academia. Both are to blame.
As harsh as we are in our views of the relevance of
academic research, we also believe that industry has
not bstepped up to the plateQ to improve matters.
Insufficient support by industry exists in terms of
project sponsorship to encourage a more practical/
industrial focus to university research projects.
When sponsorship exists, industry tends to censor or
limit publication, undercutting the academic require-
ment to spread knowledge. There is also generally
poor support of cooperative education programs.
Industry is overly focussed on short-term gains, aca-
demia overly focussed on long-term objectives.
On the university/technikon side, there is often
little interest in seconding students to cooperative
programs, and there are few professors with any
industrial background. (Industrial experience can be
seen as bstepping off the merry-go-roundQ as far as an
academic career is concerned. Unlike the social
sciences where there is a constant exchange of people
between government, academic, and commercial sec-
tors, engineering careers tend to be beither/orQ propo-
sitions.) This leads to choices of research projects for
which no practical applications exist and graduates
lacking relevant skills.
3.4. Recommendations for change
Recognizing the maturity of our field, we may well
see its demise unless a proactive approach is urgently
taken by all stakeholders. To stimulate a revival of
interest, we propose (i) expanding the scope of hydro-
metallurgy to hydrotechnology, (ii) reviewing the
extractive metallurgy curriculum, and (iii) improving
industry–university interactions.
To be consistent with the broader scope of hydro-
technology (Table 1), a modern curriculum should
include inter alia the following topics:
! Extraction and recovery of metals and minerals
from both traditional and non-traditional sources
 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88
(including processing of secondary materials and
effluents);
! Aqueous-based separations (IX, SX, precipitation
and crystallization, membranes, MRT);
! Aqueous- and organic-based electrochemistry (e.g.,
galvanic stripping of metals directly from a loaded
organic phase (see O’Keefe et al., 2002));
! Waste solution treatment;
! Aqueous-based environmental remediation tech-
nologies;
! Aqueous-based production of fine and bulk
chemicals;
! High-tech applications of hydrotechnology; and
! Aqueous-based corrosion science.
All of these, in one form or another, involve the
basic principles of hydrometallurgy. A holistic inte-
grated approach to the teaching of this subject is
envisaged, as shown in Fig. 1. Consider, for example,
that common hydrometallurgical concepts could be
applied to the treatment of wastewater, environmental
remediation, electroplating and electroforming, as
well as the production of ceramic precursors. Many
of these principles could also be successfully applied
to the manufacture of electronic devices and compo-
nents, the production of fine and high-purity chemi-
cals or of bulk chemicals, or to corrosion prevention.
Other areas in which commonality exists include aqu-
eous processing for recycling or the treatment of
wastes and by-products. Cross-pollination with the
rapidly expanding field of biotechnology could intro-
duce novel approaches to the use of microorganisms
in metallurgical systems and provide a better under-
standing of the effects of biological systems. Oppor-
Mineral
Mining
Processing
Waste / scrap / byproducts
End of life
Fig. 1. Integration and inter-relationship of aqueous technologies in the complete lifecycle of a metal.
85
tunities for beneficial interactions also exist in the
field of energy conversion, particularly in the deve-
lopment of novel batteries and fuel cells.
4. The way forward
4.1. The implementation of change
It is clear that changes are needed. These require
efforts from both the academics, who produce the
engineers of the future, and the industry that they
ultimately serve.
In introducing students to the subject material, the
broad applicability of concepts should be taught,
emphasizing the multidisciplinary nature of the field.
This could be enhanced by formal interactions with
Chemical and Materials Engineering departments, and
with departments such as Hydrology or those offering
environmental training. The University of Melbourne
provides an excellent example of offering a Chemical
Engineering degree combined with another discipline
(Shallcross and Wood, 2001).
Contributions from industry must include the
development of well-structured and relevant coopera-
tive programs or technical internships. The conside-
rable experience of industrial colleagues should be
recognized as a valuable untapped asset to be put to
use in assisting with the development of course mate-
rial and, more importantly, in identifying and elabo-
rating case studies.
Industry must also assist in identifying and spon-
soring undergraduate research projects, and by provi-
ding vacation employment. Instead of using students
Leaching Separation Precipitn.
Electro-
metallurgy
Precursor
Fabrication
prepn.
86 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88
as a source of cheap labour (as often happens), they
should be properly mentored and given a drealT project
with tangible results, preferably with measurable tech-
nical or cost benefits to their employer.
5. Training the extractive metallurgists of the
future
We appreciate that the focus of this paper is edu-
cating hydrometallurgists, but we would like to extend
the discussion to extractive metallurgy in general.
Several issues should be addressed beyond those dis-
cussed in the preceding section.
5.1. Life-long learning
In an increasingly technologically complex world,
the need for life-long learning is essential, as graduate
course material becomes obsolete or irrelevant within
a relatively short time frame. All that undergraduate
educators can hope to achieve in the longer term is to
teach their students how to teach themselves, inculcate
some of the love of learning and the self-discipline
necessary for this to happen, and to give them a sound
basis in logical, deductive reasoning. Rather than just
concentrating on students who have recently com-
pleted their high-school diplomas, the recognition of
the needs of mature students should be paid more
attention, particularly in the design and structure of
short courses and distance-learning programs. Indus-
try needs to support this process by creating opportu-
nities for this to happen, including support of
employees (both financial and by giving them time
off their normal duties) and by contributing the
experience of senior personnel to, for example, opera-
tions management courses and in discussions of pro-
ject management and teamwork.
Other subject material that becomes increasingly
important as engineers move up the career path
includes finance courses, various human resource
topics, and environmental regulations.
The increasing use of the Internet and the World
Wide Web will enhance possibilities for distance
learning (location-independent learning) and for asyn-
chronous learning. It is important to note the distinc-
tion between and shift in emphasis from dteachingT to
dlearningT.
5.2. Cooperative internship programs
There are some very successful engineering pro-
grams that require that students combine academic
training with hands-on work experience. There are
many ways in which this can be done, ranging from
alternating periods of study and work, to concurrent
work and study. The challenge for educators and
students in the field of extractive metallurgy is that
work-related employment is often not available in the
local community. Instead desirable positions often end
up being in other states and other countries. The
establishment of a viable cooperative program
becomes more difficult, in that immigration, housing,
and transportation issues can become very complex
and expensive to resolve. These issues are, however,
not insoluble, as evidenced by a very innovative
course run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-
ogy (MIT) in their Chemical Engineering Department.
This program, supported by companies from North
America, Europe, and the Far East, attracts students
from around the world (O’Connor et al., 1999; John-
ston et al., 1994).
5.3. Case studies
Business schools have for many years recognized
the pedagogical advantages gained through the exam-
ination and evaluation of real corporate experiences—
both good and bad. It is strongly recommended that
the use of appropriate case studies be considered in
engineering courses. Not only do these offer the
opportunity to learn specific technical details of a
particular industry, but they expose students to com-
mon pitfalls that arise, teach them to consider alter-
native approaches to solving problems, and,
importantly, to learn that commercial technical deci-
sions are seldom made on the basis of technical
reasons alone.
In the light of recent corporate embarrassments that
have received international publicity (one is reminded,
for example, of Enron, Bre X, Chernobyl, Union
Carbide in Bhopal), there is a resurgence of awareness
of corporate responsibility which chemical, engineer-
ing, and mining companies cannot escape. Too often
engineering students (in comparison to their liberal
arts counterparts) seem to be far removed from the
social concerns of their times. It is appropriate that
 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88
aspects of engineering ethics be debated in our grad-
uating classes. A classic engineering case study is the
whistle blower case of the faulty O-rings on the
Challenger space shuttle (Boisjoly, 1987). Extractive
metallurgy no doubt has examples that could be simi-
larly used.
Exposure to soft issues, environment, community,
economics needs to come later in the degree program.
Often these issues are presented very early in the under-
graduate curriculum, but until the student has had some
work experience, the application and implications of
these concepts are not appreciated. Colorado School of
Mines has one of the better curriculums in this regard.
For example, the mining industry in many developing
countries is severely impacted by the AIDS epidemic.
(South Africa estimates that approximately 30% of
mine workers are now HIV-positive, while Papua
New Guinea estimates that 37% of their population
could die from AIDS within the next 20 years (Anon,
2002)). Multi-national Anglo American’s approach to
dealing with this burgeoning crisis (Anglo American
Corporation, 2005) could make a topical subject for
debate on soft issues of corporate responsibility.
Despite the growing technological basis of our
lives, there remains a worldwide trend towards scien-
tific illiteracy. Rational debate of popular emotive
issues would not only bring students into contact
with real-world issues, but may also help to dissemi-
nate more objective viewpoints into their broader
communities and the public perceptions. A good
example is a discussion of the misinformation that
recently circulated in full-page advertisements spon-
sored by the anti-cyanide lobby. Other subjects of
topical interest could include debates on the use of
nuclear power, or the chemical and health effects of
the burning oil wells in Iraq following the Gulf War.
5.4. Issues of the environment and sustainable
development
As discussed by Nicol (2000), there is little doubt
that one of the most important factors guiding the
direction of hydrometallurgy in the next decade will
be the environment. Increasing resources will be
directed at solving problems of current and future
waste products, including cyanide residues from
gold processing, zinc leach residues, and heavy
metal-containing dusts from electric arc furnaces.
87
As mentioned, a significant global shift has
occurred in mining practice from the developed to
the developing world. While most sites are massive
operations, there are also microdeposits that are
exploited by just a few miners. While these small
operations are very important in terms of the local
economy they support (as evidenced by small-scale
gold mining in Peru), they are often very destructive
to the environment in terms of the wholesale exploita-
tion of the land and the poorly managed use of
reagents such as mercury, causing widespread con-
tamination of local and, sometimes, distant ecosys-
tems. While it is tempting for the industrialized world
to bemoan this poor application of extractive metal-
lurgy, a South African commitment to providing tech-
nical, advisory and educational resources to this
historically under-serviced sector is a step towards
improving this situation (Zenzele, 2002). Based on a
model that has been very successful particularly in
south-east Asia and Latin America, the objective of
the Zenzele initiative (meaning dself-relianceT in Zulu)
is to encourage and support the micro- and small-scale
mining sector by providing training in appropriate,
environmentally benign, and safe mineral beneficia-
tion technologies, and assisting with their implemen-
tation in the field. The European Union has supported
the development of similar small-scale mining educa-
tional centres in Brazil and Zambia.
Much has been published on the training of che-
mical engineers with a view to sensitising them to
issues of sustainable development (Azapagic, 2001;
Overcash, 2001). It is vital that a similar approach be
more convincingly incorporated into modern extrac-
tive metallurgy curricula: we ignore the clamours of
the green movement at our peril (Conrad, 1992).
6. Conclusions
During the past decade in particular, it has become
abundantly clear that the traditional field of hydrome-
tallurgy has changed enormously, and there is a cor-
responding need for both those training graduates and
those employing graduates to adapt and contribute to
this process. Unless hydrometallurgy wishes to be
relegated to a niche technology in the margins of
engineering, the focus of the topic should be broa-
dened, with a far greater emphasis on multi- and
88 M.B. Mooiman et al. / Hydrometallurgy 79 (2005) 80–88
cross-disciplinary approaches to the subject material.
Making this vision a reality is not only the responsi-
bility of academia; the support and leadership of
industry are vital.
Acknowledgements
We wish to pay tribute to our respective teachers,
mentors, and the many colleagues who have enriched
our career experiences in hydrometallurgy through the
years. The views presented in this article are the
personal opinions of the authors and do not necessa-
rily reflect those of our employers.
References
Amos, G., Hopkins, W., Izatt, S.R., Bruening, R.L., Dale, J.B.,
Krakowiak, K.E., 2000. Extraction, recovery and recycling of
metals from effluents, electrolyte and product streams using
molecular recognition technology. Proceedings of the Fifth
International Conference on Clean Technologies for the Mining
Industry, Santiago, Chile.
Anglo American Corporation, 2005. HIV and AIDS, internet [http://
www.angloamerican.co.uk/corporateresponsibility/hivaids].
Accessed 31 August 2005.
Anon, 2002. PNG AIDS crisis. Mining Journal 338 (8685), 363.
Anthony, T., Flett, D.S., 1997. Nickel processing technology: a
review. Minerals Industry International (1), 26 – 42.
Azapagic, A., 2001. The place for sustainable development in
chemical engineering education. Proceedings of the 6th World
Congress on Chemical Engineering, Melbourne, Australia.
Bateman, 2002. Micro PGM refinery for Harmony mines. Bateman
Globe (26).
Biswas, A.K., Davenport, W.G., 1994. Extractive Metallurgy of
Copper, 3rd edn. Pergamon, UK.
Boisjoly, R.M., 1987. Ethical decisions—Morton Thiokol and the
space shuttle Challenger disaster. Proceedings of the ASME
Winter Annual Meeting. American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers, New York. Paper 87-WA/TS-4.
Conrad, B.R., 1992. The role of hydrometallurgy in achieving
sustainable development. Hydrometallurgy 30, 1 – 28.
Fisher, K.G., 1987. Refining of gold at the Rand Refinery. In:
Stanley, G.G. (Ed.), The Extractive Metallurgy of Gold in
South Africa, The South African Institute of Mining and Metal-
lurgy, Monograph Series M7, vol. 2. Chamber of Mines of
South Africa, Johannesburg, pp. 615 – 654.
Fleming, C.A., 1992. Hydrometallurgy of precious metals recovery.
Hydrometallurgy 30, 127 – 162.
Habashi, F., 1993. A Textbook of Hydrometallurgy. Métallurgie
Extractive, Sainte Foy, Québec, p. 689.
Ichiishi, S., Izatt, S.R., Bruening, R.L., Izatt, N.E., Dale, J.B., 2000.
A commercial MRT process for the recovery and purification of
rhodium from a refinery feedstream containing platinum group
metals (PGMs) and base metal contaminants. Proceedings 24th
Annual International Precious Metals Institute Conference, Wil-
liamsburg, VA, p. 11.
Johnston, B.S., Meadowcroft, T.A., Franz, A.J., Hatton, T.A.,
1994. The M.I.T. Practice School: intensive practical education
in chemical engineering. Chemical Engineering Education 28
(1), 38.
McElroy, R., Young, W., 1999. Pressure oxidation of complex
copper ores. In: Jergensen II, G.V. (Ed.), Copper Leaching,
Solvent Extraction and Electrowinning Technology. Society
for Mining, Metals and Exploration, Littleton, CO, pp. 29 – 40.
Mooiman, M.B., Sole, K.C., 1994. Aqueous processing in materials
science and engineering. JOM 46 (6), 18 – 28.
Nicol, M.J., 2000. Hydrometallurgy into the next millennium. Pro-
ceedings MINPREX 2000, Melbourne, pp. 11 – 16.
O’Connor, A.J., Kandas, A.W., Natori, Y., Hatton, T.A., 1999.
Internationalizing practical ChE education: the M.I.T. Practice
School in Japan. Chemical Engineering Education 33, 167.
O’Keefe, T., O’Keefe, M., Fang, R., Sun, J., Dahlgren, E., 2002.
Novel electrochemical processing using conventional organic
solvents. In: Sole, K.C., Cole, P.M., Preston, J.S., Robinson,
D.J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Solvent Extraction
Conference ISEC 2002, vol. 1. South African Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy, Johannesburg, pp. 459 – 466.
Overcash, M., 2001. Sustainability—concepts for research in life
cycle and chemical engineering. Proceedings of the 6th World
Congress on Chemical Engineering, Melbourne, Australia.
Shallcross, D.C., Wood, D.G., 2001. Chemical engineering educa-
tion and combined degrees—a vision for the future. Proceedings
of the 6th World Congress on Chemical Engineering, Mel-
bourne, Australia.
Zenzele, 2002. Technology Demonstration Centre, internet [http://
www.zenzeletech.co.za]. Accessed 23 May 2002.