Process for Separating Limonite and Saprolite

摘要

A method for separating nickel containing lateritic ore into limonite and saprolite fractions that includes subjecting a lateritic ore slurry to a size separation procedure to separate the limonite and saprolite fractions on a selected threshold particle size basis and determining a threshold particle size based on an analysis of particle size fractions by determining a particle size where substantially all of the particles having a characteristic compositional range of at least one indicator element for limonite are smaller than the determined threshold particle size, and/or substantially all of the particles having a compositional range of at least one indicator element for saprolite are larger than a determined threshold particle size.