Electrowinning, also called
electroextraction, is the
electrodeposition of
metals from their
ores that have been put in solution via a process commonly referred to as leaching.
Electrorefining uses a similar process to remove impurities from a metal. Both processes use
electroplating on a large scale and are important techniques for the economical and straightforward purification of
non-ferrous metals. The resulting metals are said to be
electrowon.