Leaching of a low-grade, copper–nickel sulfide ore

Shake flask bioleaching of a low-grade nickel-cobalt-copper sulfide ore from Lao was investigated to test the technical feasibility to recovery metals from this ore. The mineralogical results indicated that the valuable minerals were disseminated finely and the ore had a low content of sulfur and high content of iron and magnesium, which was very harmful for bioleaching. The effects of different parameters such as the amount of acid addition, inoculation volume, initial pH, temperature and leaching time on the bioleaching performance of the ore were evaluated after pre-leaching with dilute acid. The results showed that nickel, cobalt, copper leaching rates reached 81.61%, 80.75%, 70.97% at 33 °C and 83.40%, 82.13%, 70.34% at 45 °C. The mineralogical analysis of the leaching residues revealed that the leaching rate of nickel sulfide was more than 92% and the unleached nickel was mainly present as nickel silicate.

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Study on Effect of Complexing Agent Addition on Flotation Index of Copper-Nickel Sulfide Ore

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.634-638.3234 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 634-638 ◽

pp. 3234-3238

Author(s):

Xian Hai Li ◽

Qin Zhang ◽

Song Mao

Keyword(s):

Recovery Rate ◽

Nickel Sulfide ◽

Copper Ions ◽

Sodium Thiosulfate ◽

Complexing Agent ◽

Gangue Mineral ◽

Flotation Process ◽

Copper Nickel ◽

Sulfide Ore ◽

Nickel Grade

The gangue mineral surface inevitably enriches some copper ions, nickel ions and other metal ions when copper-nickel sulfide ore is ground and in the flotation process. These ions can activate the gangue minerals so as to influence the selective separation of valuable minerals and gangue minerals. This paper, based on the ore property, found that complexing agent LXA could make nickel grade increase to 7.88% from 6.32%, but the recovery rate reduced by 15.61%; complexing agent LXH1 could make nickel grade and recovery rate increase by 0.6% and 1.3% respectively by comparing the flotation effect in the presence of complexing agent EDTA, LXH1, sodium thiosulfate and LXA respectively.

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Nickel Bioleaching at Elevated pH: Research and Application

Solid State Phenomena ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ssp.262.197 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 262 ◽

pp. 197-201 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jian Zhi Sun ◽

Bo Wei Chen ◽

Jian Kang Wen ◽

Biao Wu

Keyword(s):

Nickel Sulfide ◽

Industrial Applications ◽

Low Grade ◽

Sulfide Ores ◽

Leaching Rate ◽

Sulfide Deposits ◽

Acid Consumption ◽

Sulfide Ore ◽

The Cost ◽

Experimental Researches

Biohydrometallurgy has broad application prospect in the treatment of low-grade nickel sulfide ore. However, quite a number of nickel sulfide deposits are associated with basic gangue minerals such as contain olivine, serpentine. The high basic gangue minerals will lead to a higher acid consumption and make it difficult to bioleach at pH below 2.5. It is crucial to improve processes and adapt bacteria with this kind of ore. This paper reviews the experimental researches and industrial applications for bioleaching of the high acid consumption nickel sulfide ores. It is suggested that bioleaching at elevated pH will have similar leaching rate compared with pH below 2.5, meanwhile the cost will be decreased remarkably due to a lower acid consumption and less dissolved impurity ions.

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