Copper is extracted from low-grade ores by pyhtomining - AQA - GCSE Chemistry Combined Science - Question 4 - 2019 - Paper 2

Phytomining is a process that involves growing plants on low-grade copper ore. The plants absorb copper compounds from the soil as they grow. When these plants are harvested, they can be burned to produce ash, which contains a higher concentration of copper. The copper is then extracted from this ash by dissolving it in acid to produce a solution of a copper compound. Finally, copper can be obtained through methods such as electrolysis or by displacement, where scrap iron is added to the solution to displace copper.