Leaching is the chemical extraction of metals or minerals from a host rock. This can be done in-situ (e.g., in borehole mining) or in heap or dump leaching operation. In leaching, a liquid chemical called a lixiviant is used to selectively extract the desired metal from the ore or metal. There are different types of leaching such as heap leaching, in situ leaching, flooded leaching, and vat leaching.

Dissolution involves the complete dissolving of a mineral such as salts like halite (rock salt, NaCl), potash, and trona. When using dissolution to extract minerals, the recovery of the those minerals is often accomplished by the evaporite mining (i.e., evaporation of the water from the salty water in solar ponds.)