PROCESS OF UPGRADING NICKELIFEROUS OXIDE ORES OF LATERITIC ORIGIN

摘要

A process of upgrading garnieritic ores, oxidised nickeliferous ores of lateritic origin which includes subjecting the ore to controlled attrition and classifying particles so formed according to their size, those having a dimension smaller than a predetermined value being recovered. The present specification discloses, among other things, a process for upgrading garnieritic ores at least 0.5% in nickel comprising the steps of: (a) subjecting a raw garnieritic ore to a preliminary grinding or crushing to produce an ore in which about 80% of the ore particles have a size between about 5,000 and 100 microns; (b) subjecting the resultant ore to a controlled attrition whereby the ratio d90/d10 increases by a factor of at least 2.0; and (c) recovering the particles of a size below 10 microns whereby a nickel recovery of at least 70 is accomplished.