HYDROMETALLURGICAL PROCESS FOR THE RECOVERY OF NICKEL AND COBALT BY AMMONIACAL LEACHING

摘要

The present is a hydrometallurgical process for nickel and cobalt recovery, which involves leaching with ammonia-ammonium carbonate solution of the nickel and cobalt bearing mineral material, using a tubular reactor (4) with air or oxygen injection (5), said mineral material is previously submitted to selective reduction and cooling. The new ammonia leaching process, followed by liquid/solid separation (7) and/or nickel and/or cobalt extraction by solvent or ion-exchange resin, allows the recovery of all the extractable nickel and up to the 130 % cobalt extraction reported by the standard ammonia-ammonium leaching.