Metallurgy is the process and process of extracting metals or metal compounds from minerals and making them into metal materials with certain properties by various processing methods.

Metallurgy has a long history of development, from the stone age to the subsequent bronze age, and then to the large-scale development of modern steel smelting. The development history of metallurgy has been integrated.

Metallurgical technology mainly includes pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy and electrometallurgy. With the successful application of physical chemistry in metallurgy, metallurgy has moved from technology to science, so there is a metallurgical engineering major in University. Pyrometallurgy is a metallurgical process carried out at high temperature.

After a series of physical and chemical changes at high temperature, some or all minerals in the ore or concentrate will form another form of compound or simple substance, which will be enriched in gas, liquid or solid products respectively, so as to achieve the purpose of separating the metal to be extracted from gangue and other impurities. The heat energy needed to realize pyrometallurgical process.

It is usually supplied by fuel combustion, but also by chemical reactions in the process. For example, the oxidation roasting and smelting of sulfide ore need not be heated by fuel; the metal thermal reduction process is also self heating. Pyrometallurgy includes: drying, calcination, roasting, smelting, refining, distillation and other processes.