Inco Limited

The International Nickel Company, Inc.

Malcolm C Bell

Ramamritham Sridhar

Carlos M Diaz

James A Bell

Thomas Francis Stephenson

Anthony Edward Warner

Grigori S Victorovich

Norman C Nissen

Scott Thomas Campbell

Thijs Eerkes

John A Thomas

Kenneth R Dymock

John Francis Brennan

Alexander Illis

Kohur N Subramanian

Ramamrithan Sridhar

John Stuart Warner

Ashok D Dalvi

The invention provides a new method for casting alloys containing a finely divided phase. A bath of the molten metal having a melting point is provided. A finely divided solid metal having a melting point greater than the melting point of molten metal is introduced into the molten metal. The finely divided metal is reacted with the molten metal to form a solid phase within the molten metal. The molten bath is then mixed to distribute the solid phase within the molten metal. The molten alloy is then cast into a solid object containing the solid phase. The solid phase is insoluble in the matrix and has a size related to the initial size of the finely divided solid. The alloy of the invention advantageously consists essentially of, by weight percent, about 3 to 40 aluminum, about 0.8 to 25 nickel, about 0 to 12 copper and balance zinc and incidental impurities. The alloy has a zinc-containing matrix with nickel-containing aluminides distributed throughout the matrix.

Alloys containing insoluble phases and method of manufacturing thereof

Alloys containing insoluble phases and method of manufacture thereof

A system for continuous smelting of sulfidic copper concentrate in which an oxygen flash furnace is operatively connected with a continuous converter and the continuous converter is operatively connected with a finishing furnace.

Copper smelting system

A hydrometallurgical process is provided for separating heavy metal nuisance elements such as As, Sb, Bi, Sn and Pb from precious metals and/or selenium. The process can be used as a step in an overall hydrometallurgical process for treating refinery residues such as anode slimes for the separation and recovery of valuable metal values.

Hydrometallurgical processing of precious metal-containing materials

A nonaqueous process of hydrogenating and liquefying solid carbonaceous material which includes heating the material in contact with a catalyst derived from FE(CO).sub.9 in the presence of hydrogen.

Non-aqueous hydrogenation of solid carbonaceous material

Discloses that in the hydrogenation of liquid, carbonaceous crude material such as bitumen and other heavy oils, a catalyst derived from the addition of Fe.sub.2 (CO).sub.9 is advantageously used to provide a superior yield of distillable oils compared to prior practice.

Hydrogenation of carbonaceous material

An autogeneous smelting process for suldie materials using a roasted portion blended with unroasted material in the presence of a flux.

Process for autogenous oxygen smelting of sulfide materials containing

Selenium-bearing materials are treated to convert selenium values to water-soluble form in a process which comprises producing a wet pellet product of uniform composition having a specified moisture content and size from an aqueous slurry containing the selenium-bearing material and dissolved sodium carbonate-containing reagent. In a preferred embodiment the slurry is pH-adjusted to neutralize free acid and/or to precipitate nonferrous base metals. sp

Process for treatment of selenium-bearing materials

A process for treating anode slimes containing silver in which the silver is converted to a form soluble in dilute nitric acid, and in which after dissolution in dilute nitric acid, the silver is electrowon from solution. The process can be carried out by a route which is entirely hydrometallurgical. In addition to recovery silver, other values such as Se, Te, Ni and precious metals can be recovered.

Process for the recovery of metal values from anode slimes

A copper-containing sulfidic material is dead-roasted at a temperature of at least 750.degree. C. and the resulting calcine is leached in a sulfuric acid solution to dissolve most of the copper in preference to any iron, nickel and cobalt in the material.

Roast-leach copper recovery

Manganiferous deep sea nodules containing non-ferrous metal values are selectively reduced to reduce manganic oxides to manganous oxide (MnO) and the non-ferrous metal values to the metallic state, and the selectively reduced nodules are then smelted to produce a molten metallic alloy containing the non-ferrous metal values and a slag containing most of the manganese. The molten alloy is blown with a free-oxygen-containing gas to eliminate most of the manganese, and the substantially manganese-free metal is then sulfided to produce a matte suitable for separation and recovery of the non-ferrous metal values. After sulfiding the matte can be blown with a free-oxygen-containing gas to lower the iron content thereof. Not all the iron is removed if it is advantageous to keep a high proportion of cobalt in the matte.

Non-ferrous metal recovery from deep sea nodules

Recovery, by thermal upgrading, of nickel values from nickeliferous lateritic ores containing a silicate fraction is improved by forming agglomerates of the ore, a reagent containing at least one member selected from the group consisting of alkali or alkaline earth metal compounds in a small but effective amount to increase nickel recovery from the silicate fraction and a liquid hydrocarbon in an amount between about 1 and 12%, based on the weight of the ore and heating a static, shallow bed of the agglomerates established on a moving bed to partially melt the agglomerates to reduce and coalesce the nickel values into easily recoverable ferronickel concentrate. The grade of the ferronickel concentrate can be increased by incorporating a sulfur-bearing material in the agglomerates.

Process for treatment of lateritic ores

Base metal chlorides are recovered from fused alkali metal or alkaline earth metal halide salts by precipitation with at least one reagent selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide or aluminum. Advantageously, the bulk of the base metals are precipitated by combinations of hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen to produce a precipitate having a controlled sulfur content that is molten at temperatures between about 750.degree. C. and 900.degree. C., and final salt cleaning is achieved by precipitating residual base metals with aluminum. The melting point of the precipitate is also controlled by the ratio of nickel to other base metals in the salt.

Method of stripping base metals from fused salts

Manganiferous oxide minerals, particularly sea nodules, containing at least one metal value selected from the group consisting of cobalt, copper, iron, molybdenum and nickel and a reductant are heated to a temperature above about 1100.degree.C. to selectively reduce the metal values to metal and only minor amounts of the manganese values to metal and to coalesce the reduced metal values. The coalesced metal values are recovered by techniques such as magnetic separation, flotation and tabling to produce a concentrate of the metal values.

Thermal upgrading of sea nodules

Nickel matte containing at least about 28% sulfur is refined with respect to arsenic, antimony or bismuth by contacting molten matte with gaseous chlorine to chlorinate and volatilize arsenic, antimony or bismuth from the nickel matte. Advantageously, the molten nickel matte is provided with a halide flux to minimize volatilization of any nickel chloride that is formed.

Growing community of inventors

Oakville, Canada

Malcolm C Bell