The invention discloses a method for extracting
zinc from low-grade
smithsonite, and belongs to the technical field of wet
smelting. Comprising the following steps that
smithsonite is ground and screened, and to-be-treated
smithsonite is obtained; carrying out
calcination pretreatment on the obtained smithsonite; the calcined smithsonite is leached with a
sulfuric acid solution prepared by adding
manganese dioxide, the PH value of the leaching end point is controlled to be 4.8-5.0, and neutral leaching is achieved; leaching the bottom
slag obtained by leaching with a dilute
sulfuric acid solution again to recover
zinc, and controlling the pH value at the leaching end point to be 2.0, namely acid leaching; and pulpifying and washing the obtained leaching residues with
fresh water, and then carrying out filter pressing. According to the method, a pyrogenic
calcination process and a wet conventional leaching process are combined, high-acid leaching is adopted in the leaching process in the wet conventional leaching process, and a
hydrolysis iron removal process is adopted in the acid leaching process in a low-acid and low-iron environment. The production environment pressure of overflow caused by large foam amount in the leaching process is relieved; iron continuously enriched in the leaching process is removed; and the
zinc concentration required by
electrolysis production is met.