Electrowinning is a process where a metal dissolved in an electrolyte is reduced on a cathode by means of an electrical current. In electrowinning a current is passed through the anode through the electrolyte solution containing the metal value so that the metal value is extracted as it is deposited in an electroplating process onto the cathode. When an electrical current is applied to the sulfate based electrolysis system, metal is precipitated on the surface of the cathode and water decomposes on the anode where acid and oxygen are formed. Electrowinning takes place in an electrolytic cell that contains a number of anodes and a number of cathodes arranged in an alternating manner. The commercial use of electrowinning requires a large number of cathodes and anodes in a single electrolytic cell. One type of anode used in electrowinning has been lead based anode, which could have a negative effect on the quality of copper deposited. One significant disadvantage of using such lead based anodes is that during electrowinning operations small amounts of lead are released from the surface of the anode, which causes the undesirable particulates to be suspended in the electrolyte. In addition, the lead sludge must be cleaned periodically from the cell bottom e.g. every 45 to 90 days, and during this time the electrowinning cell is not producing metal.