This paper will give a detailed analysis of the technological routes used in mineral processing and hydrometallurgy, taking into account environmental constraints and the availability of strategic resources. Innovations tend to occur in clusters, following the periodicity described by Kondratieff's famous wave theory of innovation. Analysis of statistics on innovative place-of-origin patents in Chile and around the world from 1890 up to the present day verifies this theory. Looking at emerging comminution technologies, it can be seen that there is a high probability that the high pressure roll mill will become a standard technology within the next ten years. Meanwhile, the use of microwaves can not only facilitate comminution, but is also an effective way of promoting faster kinetics in different processes in extractive metallurgy. However, it is difficult to envisage industrial applications in copper mining before about 2025. Better understanding and control of activation/deactivation mechanisms are needed in the field of flotation as well as new practical options to handle floatability. The role of bubbles in mineral collection and froth control to improve selectivity is another significant area for innovation. Developing control systems that integrate explicit hy-drodynamic variables is another primary need. Flotation units will continue to increase in size; breaching the 400m~3 mark by 2020. Despite predictions to the contrary, global copper smelting capacity has doubled in size since the environmental campaigns of the 1970s, partly due to increased mine production and partly because many smelters have successfully adapted to ever higher environmental standards. Fully continuous smelters and production network businesses are future challenges facing the industry. SX-EW is considered the perfect complement to smelting as the sulfuric acid generated by smelting can be used to treat low-grade oxide and secondary sulfide ores not recovered by the traditional flotation process. Pressure leaching and bioleaching of concentrates, together with SX-EW, have the potential to be cost competitive and cleaner than the concentration-smelting-refining route. This alternative will probably be used to process some concentrates in the short term, particularly when copper concentrates are in surplus and treatment charges are high.
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