Bhp Billiton Ssm Technology Pty. Ltd.

Wolf Meihack

Houyuan Liu

Alexey Duarte

Ivan Ratchev

A process for the recovery of nickel and cobalt from nickel and cobalt containing ores, including the steps of first leaching a laterite ore and/or a partially oxidized sulfide ore with an acid solution to produce a pregnant leach solution containing at least dissolved nickel, cobalt and ferric ions, and subsequently leaching a sulfide ore or concentrate with the pregnant leach solution to produce a product liquor. Alternatively, the laterite ore and/or partially oxidized sulfide ore can be leached in a combined leach with the sulfide ore or concentrate. The ferric ion content in the pregnant leach solution or in the combined leach is sufficient to maintain the oxidation and reduction potential in the sulfide leach high enough to assist in leaching nickel from the sulfide ore or concentrate.

Consecutive or simultaneous leaching of nickel and cobalt containing ores

A process for the production of ferro-nickel or nickel matte from a product liquor solution containing at least nickel, cobalt, iron and acid soluble impurities, said process including the steps of: (a) contacting the product liquor solution () containing the nickel, cobalt, iron and acid soluble impurities with an ion exchange resin (), wherein the resin selectively absorbs nickel and iron from the solution leaving the cobalt and the acid soluble impurities in the raffinate (); (b) stripping the nickel and iron from the resin with a sulfuric acid solution to produce an eluate () containing nickel and iron; (c) neutralising the eluate to precipitate a mixed nickel iron hydroxide product (); and (d) reducing and smelting the mixed nickel iron hydroxide product to produce ferro-nickel () or nickel matte ().

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Wolf Meihack