<p>The extraction of zinc from zinc oxide concentrates was paramount in addressing the issue of zinc oxide ore stockpiles and promoting the efficient utilization of zinc resources. In this work, a new process for the extraction of zinc from mixed zinc oxide concentrates was proposed. Thermodynamic calculations showed that all the physical phases in the concentrate could spontaneously react with concentrated H₂SO₄ to form ZnSO₄·H₂O, PbSO₄, CaSO_4, and Fe₂(SO₄)₃ in the curing product. The curing experiments indicated that the zinc-containing minerals could be converted to ZnSO₄·H₂O and thus extracted under the conditions of a curing temperature of 200 ℃, curing time of 1&#xa0;h, and acid-to-material ratio of 1:1 (g/g). The systematic leaching experiments demonstrated that the leaching rate of zinc could reach 98.99%, iron was 34.31%, calcium was 9.70% and lead was 0.49% under optimal leaching conditions. Furthermore, the mechanism analysis revealed that only ZnSO₄ and Fe₂(SO₄)₃ were selectively leached into the solution. The leaching residues were mainly PbSO₄, CaSO_4, and SiO₂, which can be used for thermal lead extraction. The process proposed in this paper avoided the bubbling phenomenon caused by direct acid leaching, reduced acid consumption, and improved the leaching rate of zinc.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>