The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 05, 2013
Filed:
Aug. 07, 2008
Anthony Charles Chamberlain, Bicton, AU;
Chad James Otto Czerny, Rankin Park, AU;
Houyuan Liu, Henderson, NV (US);
Harald Theowald Muller, Eleebana, AU;
Anthony Charles Chamberlain, Bicton, AU;
Chad James Otto Czerny, Rankin Park, AU;
Houyuan Liu, Henderson, NV (US);
Harald Theowald Muller, Eleebana, AU;
BHP Billiton SSM Development Pty Ltd., Perth, Western Australia, AU;
Abstract
An atmospheric leach process for the recovery of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores includes providing limonitic and saprolitic ore fractions of a laterite ore; separately slurrying the limonitic and saprolitic ore fractions to produce a limonitic ore slurry and a saprolitic ore slurry; separating any limonitic type minerals from the saprolitic ore slurry to produce a saprolitic feed slurry; milling or wet grinding the saprolitic feed slurry; leaching the limonitic ore slurry with concentrated sulfuric acid in a primary leach step; introducing the saprolitic feed slurry to the leach process in a secondary leach step by combining the saprolitic feed slurry with the leached limonite slurry following substantial completion of the primary leach step, and releasing sulfuric acid to assist in leaching the saprolite feed slurry.