Liquation is a metallurgical method for separating metals from an ore or alloy. The material must be heated until one of the metals starts to melt and drain away from the other and can be collected. This method was largely used to remove lead containing silver from copper, but it can also be used to remove antimony from ore minerals, and refine tin.
The 16th-century process of separating copper and silver using liquation, described by Georg Agricola in his 1556 treatise De re metallica, remained almost unchanged until the 19th century when it was replaced by cheaper and more efficient processes such as sulphatization and eventually electrolytic methods.