Treatment of Complex Mineral and Metallurgical Feedstocks by SHS and Combustion-Assisted Processing

Mineral and metallurgical feedstocks, including ores, concentrates, industrial residues, and hazardous mineral-like wastes, are increasingly important sources for resource recovery and valorization, but their complex composition often limits conventional processing routes. This review critically examines combustion-assisted processing strategies, including self-propagating high-temperature synthesis, for the treatment of primary and secondary mineral resources. Particular attention is given to the transition from model powder systems to compositionally complex real feedstocks and to the effects of mineralogy, inert gangue, volatile components, toxic impurities and feedstock variability on reaction behavior and product quality. The reviewed studies are evaluated in terms of thermochemical feasibility, combustion-front stability, phase formation, metal–slag separation, impurity partitioning, product qualification and environmental performance. The analysis indicates that combustion-assisted routes are most promising when internal heat release is coupled with reduction, alloying, carburization, nitridation, sintering, vitrification or immobilization, enabling metal recovery, waste valorization and direct formation of useful products. Their broader implementation remains constrained by incomplete conversion, volatile-metal control, post-treatment requirements and limited scale-up and techno-economic validation. Future development requires defined processing windows, predictive modelling, digital monitoring, integrated separation and systematic environmental assessment.