This division includes mining for metallic minerals (ores), performed through underground or open-cast extraction, seabed mining etc. Also included are ore dressing and beneficiating operations, such as crushing, grinding, washing, drying, sintering, calcining or leaching ore, gravity separation or flotation operations.
This division excludes:
- roasting of iron pyrites, see 20.13
- production of aluminium oxide, see 24.42
- operation of blast furnaces, see division 24
Inchide