Pyrometallurgy near the end of the 20th century

The second part of this century has seen great developments with a variety of new technologies, such as telecommunications, computers, and space travel. However, an age-old technology, the use of fire to make metals, also developed dramatically during this period-pyrometallurgy was used to produce more metal than the cumulative production of the millennia before it. The article discusses the extraordinary developments in flash- and bath-smelting technologies; it also examines the issues that will drive the prospects of pyrometallurgy for the future. Currently, metal markets are on "easy street": metal profits are low, and government and industry in the US have little interest in metals extraction research and development. This article discusses factors that may change this situation in the near future.