Nowadays, a higher demand on a lot of metals exists, but the quantity and purity of the ores decreases. The amount of scrap, on the other hand, increases and thus, recycling becomes more important. Besides recycling, it is also necessary to improve and optimize existing processes in extractive and recycling metallurgy. One of the main difficulties of the overall-plant recovery are metal losses in slags, in both primary and secondary metal production. In general, an increased understanding of the fundamental mechanisms governing these losses could help further improve production efficiencies. This review aims to summarize and evaluate the current scientific knowledge concerning metal losses and pinpoints the knowledge gaps.

First, the industrial importance and impact of metal losses in slags will be illustrated by several examples from both ferrous and non-ferrous industries. Throughout the remainder of this review, the main focus will be put on the particular issues in copper industry. In a second section, the different types of metal losses in slags will be discussed. Generally, metal losses in slags can be subdivided into two types: chemical losses and physical losses. The fundamental insights concerning the responsible mechanisms will be discussed for each type. Subsequently, an overview of the most frequently used techniques for research investigations of the losses will be given. In a fourth section, a more detailed overview will be given on the post-processing treatment of metal-containing slags, i.e. performing slag cleaning operations. The most frequently applied methods will be discussed.

如今，对许多金属的需求更高，但是矿石的数量和纯度却在下降。另一方面，废料量增加，因此回收变得更加重要。除了回收外，还必须改善和优化采矿和回收冶金中的现有工艺。整个工厂回收的主要困难之一是矿渣中的金属损失，无论是初级金属还是次级金属的生产。通常，对控制这些损失的基本机制的进一步了解可以帮助进一步提高生产效率。这篇综述旨在总结和评估有关金属损失的当前科学知识，并指出知识差距。

首先，将通过有色金属和有色金属行业的几个例子来说明炉渣中金属损失的工业重要性和影响。在本审查的其余部分中，主要重点将放在铜行业的特定问题上。在第二部分中，将讨论炉渣中不同类型的金属损失。通常，炉渣中的金属损失可分为两种：化学损失和物理损失。有关负责任机制的基本见解将针对每种类型进行讨论。随后，将概述最常用于损失调查研究的技术。在第四部分中，将对含金属炉渣的后处理进行更详细的概述，即进行炉渣清洁操作。