Liquation is a metallurgical method for separating metals from an ore or alloy. A mixture of metals is melted together, after which the mixture is separated by liquid extraction.Liquation is a technique for separating constituents of an ore, a metal and an alloy by partial melting. When the material is heated to a temperature where one of the constituents melts and the other remains solid, the liquid constituents can be drained off. It was formerly used for extracting Antimony Sb minerals from ore and for separating silver from copper with the use of lead as a solvent. It is still used in some refining of tin.

In the process of metallurgy, the ores used are first crushed and powdered, and then concentrated by various methods. Following the concentration, the metal is now extracted from the ore. To achieve this, the ore is first converted into a compound which is easy to reduce. This is achieved by various methods including calcination. Calcination is a process of converting an ore into its metal oxide, by heating the ore in limited supply or absence of air, at a temperature which is just below its melting point. In this process, the moisture is removed, the volatile impurities get expelled, and the carbonate ores are converted into oxide ores since they are easy to reduce.