The high temperature co-processing of nickel sulfide and nickel laterite sources

Abstract

The pressure oxidation of low-grade nickel sulfide concentrate with high iron sulfides content generates significant amounts of sulfuric acid that must be neutralized. This acid can be utilized to leach metal values from ores such as nickel laterites. The present study demonstrates the use of a low-grade nickel concentrate generated from Poseidon Nickel Mt Windarra ore to enable additional nickel and cobalt extraction from a Bulong Nickel Operation nickel laterite blend. The co-processing of these materials at 250 °C, with oxygen overpressure, using total pulp densities of 30% or 40% w/w, and a range of nickel concentrate to nickel laterite mass ratios between 0.30-0.53, yielded base metal extractions of 95% or greater. The final free acid range was between 21.5-58.5 g/L, which indicates that enough in situ sulfuric acid was generated during co-processing. The acid was shown from mineralogical analysis to be efficiently utilized to dissolve the laterite ore, which indicates that the primary iron hydrolysis product was hematite, while the aluminum-rich sodium alunite/jarosite phase that formed hosts approximately 5% of the hydrolyzed iron.