About: Albion process

The Albion process is an atmospheric leaching process for processing zinc concentrate, refractory copper and refractory gold. The process is important because it is the most cost-effective method currently in use for extracting both the zinc and lead from concentrates that contain high lead levels (7% or greater). Zinc and lead often occur together and large remaining zinc deposits contain levels of lead that exceed what can be economically extracted through other techniques. The Albion process is not sensitive to the concentration grade and gives favorable recovery with both low grade and dirty concentrates. Environmental impact is also claimed to be mitigated using this technology because in contrast to other methods, sulfur dioxide is not emitted and less energy is consumed over all.