In this study, the hydrometallurgical processing of electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking dust is investigated on a laboratory scale under normal temperature and pressure conditions. The behaviour of zinc and iron under the influence of sulphuric acid as the leaching agent is discussed. The dependence between the temperature and acid concentration is investigated. The main aim is the transfer of zinc into the solution while iron ought to remain as a solid residue. The hydrometallurgical recovery of zinc from EAF dust is feasible with relatively high recovery yield, while iron mostly remains in the solid phase. It results from the use of sulphuric acid in low concentration. This way, it is possible to set up the conditions for the EAF dust leaching adjusting sulphuric acid concentration in order to achieve an optimum zinc yield to the solution without iron dissolution. However, the problem is that the chemical and mineralogical composition of each steelmaking dust is individual. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.