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Mining & Resources · Recorded milestone

Solvent extraction of copper

Recorded year1968

SX-EW recovers copper from leach solutions without smelting.

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Built on

Open-pit miningRecorded · 1906enables
Bacterial bioleachingRecorded · 1958enables

Led to

Engineered biominingForecast · ~2029enables
Closed-loop battery recyclingForecast · ~2033enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.