Precious metals are typically recovered through which process?

Precious metals are typically recovered through electrolysis, a process that uses electrical current to extract and purify metals from their ores or other materials. In electrolysis, an electrolyte solution containing metal ions is subjected to an electrical current, which causes the metal ions to migrate toward the cathode, where they are reduced and deposited as pure metal. This method is especially effective for recovering metals like gold and silver due to their ability to conduct electricity and their chemical stability.

While processes like filtration, evaporation, and distillation have their applications in various fields, they are not suitable for the direct recovery of precious metals. Filtration is primarily used for separating solid particles from liquids or gases, evaporation is used for separating substances based on their boiling points by turning them into vapor, and distillation separates components in a mixture based on differences in their boiling points, which isn't effective for precious metal recovery. Therefore, the correct process for recovering precious metals is electrolysis.