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PrintCOLLABORATION between Perth CSIRO scientists and an Australian technology company has produced a commercially viable method to extract nickel from low grade ore.
The project has been driven by Direct Nickel Limited (DNi) and according to CSIRO’s Dave Robinson, has the potential to impact the nickel industry internationally.
Dr Robinson says as sulphide ore bodies are depleted, the spotlight is shifting to laterite and saprolite ores, which contain an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s nickel.
The new extraction technology has been six years in development after DNi, which has the patent for nitric acid recycling, approached CSIRO to develop it for metallurgical processes.
In the new ore extraction process nitric acid replaces sulphuric acid high pressure acid leaching, which encountered severe problems through the need for expensive waste treatment and disposal systems.
By replacing sulphuric acid with nitric acid these are largely overcome.
The nitric acid is more aggressive than sulphuric acid in digesting nickel-bearing ores and can do the job at significantly lower pressure and temperature, eliminating the need for expensive titanium lined equipment.
From small scale testing the project has grown to a $5million pilot plant with the ability to recover 95 per cent of reagents for reuse, reducing operating costs while extracting the majority of the nickel and cobalt from the deposit.
According to DNi this is the company’s biggest win; the way the acid can be captured and recycled thereby eliminating one of the major costs in sulphuric acid plants— the neutralisation of acid waste.
Dr Robinson says the move from small scale testing to a fully functioning pilot plant has been exciting.
“There’s a huge prize—there’s probably billions of dollars of nickel in Australia that needs this type of technology to turn it into a commercially attractive proposition,” Dr Robinson says.
“There’s a vast ore body out there that the current cut-off grade for sulphuric acid processing is too high for.
“Currently plants like Murrin Murrin [north-eastern Goldfields] are processing about one per cent nickel—that’s its cut-off grade.
“If we can lower that to 0.7 or 0.75, then there’s billions and billions of dollars worth of nickel that’s available for processing.
“So you can change the value of what’s in the ground in Australia.
“The next stage is to build a 30,000 tonne per annum nickel plant to demonstrate full scale production.”
DNi is currently seeking a partner to develop that plant.
CSIRO will continue developing the extraction process for wider application in the mining industry.
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