hydrometallurgy

As nouns the difference between electrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy

is that electrometallurgy is the deposit of a metal coating on a prepared surface by electrochemical means, as in electroplating and electrotyping while hydrometallurgy is the field of extractive metallurgy involving the use of aqueous chemistry for the recovery of metals from ores, concentrates, and recycled or residual materials.