Processing Nickel Ore and Cobalt Recovery

7/25/2019 Processing Nickel Ore and Cobalt Recovery

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Processing Nickel Ore

& Cobalt RecoveryTotal technology solutions across the mining & minerals value chain

TENOVA is a worldwide supplier of advanced technologies, products and engineering services forthe metals and mining & minerals industries.


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PROCESSING NICKEL ORE

Tenova Mining & Minerals provides the full range of capabilities to convert run-of-mine (ROM) nickel ore to saleable

products, integrating engineering and process know-how in development and optimisation of plant designs for nickel ore

and cobalt recovery, which meet global environmental standards.

TRACK RECORD FOR NICKEL ORE PROCESSING AND COBALT RECOVERY

Plant references date back more than two decades. Major recent projects include a ferro-nickel smelter for Southern

Urals Nickel in Russia, cobalt SX / IX / EW circuits for Baja Minings El Boleo project in Mexico, and Freeport-McMohrans

Tenke project in the DRC, a cobalt recovery plant for Kasese in Uganda, a sulphuric acid facility for DMSAs Ambatovy

Nickel in Madagascar, a nickel concentrator for Allegiance Minings Avebury Nickel in Tasmania and pulsed columns for

Vale-Incos Goro Nickel in New Caledonia.

State-of-the-art engineering and EPCM services over the complete project lifecycle to convert natural resources into

marketable products.

Key supplier of equipment and systems for open pit mining and underground solutions, materials handling and mineralprocessing to the global mining and general industries.

Differentiated, project specific hydrometallurgical, mineral and bio process technologies, complemented by turnkey

modular plant solutions.

Industry specialist in solid / liquid separation and mineral processing applications for the minerals, chemical and industrial

markets.

Leaders in high capacity furnaces and complete smelting plants for ferroalloy production, platinum group metals, base

metals, slag cleaning and alloy refining.


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PROJECT SERVICES

Consulting: ore-body, production and market evalua-

tion to assess project viability.

Test work supervision: Tenova Mining & Minerals

engineers arrange and oversee laboratory, pilot plantand on-site test work.

In-house laboratory for cost-effective and prompt

scoping work, as a basis for structuring project

definitions.

Pre-feasibility and feasibility studies.

Technology supply packages: incorporating basic

engineering design, process guarantees, proprietary

equipment definition and supply, and commissioning

support.

Process plant design and project management: allphases of the project, from inception through design

and construction to commissioning, maximising the

success and profitability of the venture.

Comprehensive spares and after-sales back-up.

Process audits to Best Practice guidelines.

PROJECT FINANCE

Tenova Mining & Minerals assists clients to structure,

negotiate and secure optimal and cost-effective financial

packages for projects of all sizes.

FLEXIBLE CONTRACT STRUCTURING

Reimbursable, fixed price or any combination to suit

client needs.

Joint ventures on projects.

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES

For beneficiation of nickel ore and cobalt recovery,Tenova Mining & Minerals evaluates equipment to

make unbiased selections of the best equipment for

the job.

For stockpiling, materials handling, environmental

protection and waste disposal, Tenova Mining &

Minerals draws upon its comprehensive in-house

range of engineered technologies and selects the most

appropriate equipment from all suppliers.


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ORE HANDLING AND PREPARATION

Materials Handling

Tenova Mining & Minerals designs and supplies materials

handling systems to transport nickel bearing ores and

tailings. Conveyor systems to move ore and tailings to, from

and within the processing plant.

Stockpile systems for efficient, effective and

economic stacking, blending and reclaiming of ore

and safe disposal of tailings.

Plants to process tailings and extract coarse material

for use as backfill.

Comminution

Tenova Mining & Minerals designs comminution systems

that take into account ore handling characteristics andspecific requirements of downstream metallurgical

processes.

Crushing

All forms of crushing circuits including in-pit, primary,

secondary, tertiary and quaternary crushing systems.

Grinding Circuits

Large autogenous grinding (AG) and semi-autogenous

grinding (SAG) circuits, as well as rod and ball milling.

Fine Grinding

Tower mills, stirred mills and ISA mills for flotation

concentrate re-grinding.

The technology has applications in nickel sulphide

leaching and sulphiding of laterite-generated

solutions.

Pre-concentration

Physical separation processes for use prior to flotation,

upgrade flotation feed making use of differences in

physical properties of ore and gangue minerals.

Dense-Media Separation (DMS)

DMS is applied to nickel sulphide plants where

Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) or chromite are

present, or where nickel sulphide ore has significant

silicate nickel unrecoverable by flotation.

Gravity Separation

Use of spirals to recover chromite concentrate from

PGM flotation feed and application of jigs to recovermetal from slag.

Magnetic Separation

Use of magnetic separation to recover metal from

slag, and to concentrate PGM from slow-cooled

converter matte into a magnetic fraction.

Screening of Laterites

Can be used in upgrading and beneficiation of laterite

nickel ores.


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FLOTATION AND DEWATERING

Flotation

During fotation, differences in surface chemistry allow for

selective recovery of valuable minerals.

Flash Flotation

In grinding circuits, it may be advantageous to

incorporate flash flotation to remove coarsely

liberated minerals before they are overground and

prone to being lost in the downstream conventional

flotation units.

Conventional Flotation

Design of banks of conventional flotation cells and

supply of proprietary cells, in addition to design andinstallation services.

Tank Cells

Tenova Mining & Minerals has completed several

installations of large tank cells in recent years.

Column Cells

Column and Jameson cells, including pumping of high

air content froths associated with fine grinding of

concentrates.

Reagent Plants

Packaged reagent plants, either as stand-alone or as

part of concentrator plants.

Dewatering

Tenova Mining & Minerals designs and supplies unit

processes to dewater flotation concentrate, recover leach

and dewater tailings streams, before transfer to the nextprocess.

Thickeners

Conventional, high-rate, ultra-high rate and paste

thickeners to dewater concentrate, residue and

tailings streams.

Vacuum Filters

Drum, disc and belt filters.

Filter Presses

Recessed chamber and membrane presses to

generate concentrate cake for sale and even dry

tailings for storage in arid locations. They are also

widely used in base and precious metal refineries.

Continuous Pressure Filters

Horizontal plate pressure filters for both

concentrators and refineries.


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NICKEL EXTRACTION HYDROMETALLURGY

Hydrometallurgical processes are often more favoured

than smelting for treatment of nickel ore and concentrate,

particularly nickel laterites.

Leaching

Tenova Mining & Minerals has wide experience of base

metal leaching processes and designs to process ore,

concentrate and smelter mattes.

Heap Leach

Highly applicable to nickel laterites. Projects in low to

high elevation areas and in arid to tropical climates; from

interpretation and management of column testwork

programmes through to scale-up and construction.

Tank Leach

Acid leach processes carried out in trains of agitated

tanks.

Pressure Leach (PAL or HPAL)

Strong autoclave design skills to develop high-grade

sulphide ore, concentrate and matte process routes.

Circuits include utilising brick-lined and titanium-clad

autoclaves operating up to 240 C and 47 bar pressure.

Bio-Leach

Bacterial heap leach and tank leach plants, as well as

bio-leaching technologies that include processes

from BRGM, Mintek, Bactech and Biomin.

Emerging Technologies

Novel, proprietary leach processes and applying

pressure leach to laterites, flotation concentrates and

other materials.

By-Product Recovery

Gold, silver and PGMs.


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NICKEL EXTRACTION HYDROMETALLURGY

Residue and Impurity Removal

Removal of leach residues and dissolved impurities with

minimum loss of nickel is a critical step in

hydrometallurgical processes.

Neutralisation and Iron Removal

Neutralisation of slurry or solution between leaching

and downstream purification, can be coupled with iron

removal.

Residue Separation and Washing

Counter-current decantation (CCD), counter-current

vacuum belt filtration and filter presses.

Solution Clarifying

Pinned-bed clarifiers or conventional

thickeners/clarifiers to clarify leach solutions before

downstream nickel recovery.

Precipitation and Cementation

Precipitation processes that minimise operating cost

and maximise metal recovery.

Acid Plants

Tenova Mining & Minerals has expertise in drying

installations and sulphuric acid plants; plus licence

agreements with Noram Engineering and Constructors,Canada; the Sinopec Nanjing Engineering and

Constructors Incorporation (SNEI) based in China; and

Sulphurnet based in the Netherlands.


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NICKEL AND COBALT SOLVENT EXTRACTION,

ION EXCHANGE AND ELECTROWINNING

Solvent Extraction (SX), Ion Exchange (IX) and

Electrowinning (EW) are processes of choice.

Solvent Extraction (SX)

Bateman Pulsed Columns

High-efficiency, continuous contactor for extraction,

stripping and scrubbing. No degradation or loss of

organic solvent, low operational and maintenance

costs, minimal crud formation, small footprint and

reduced fire risk.

BATEMAN SETTLER

Substantial operational benefits and enables side-by-side orientation of pump mixers, reducing capital

costs and improving access for operators and

maintenance. A coalescence enhancement channel

and other design aspects provide higher process

efficiencies and reduced organic loss.

Ion Exchange (IX)

Through an exclusive agreement with Mintek, Tenova

Mining & Minerals has access to fixed bed, fluidised-bedand novel resin-in-pulp (RIP) technologies.

Removal of impurities from nickel refinery solution

streams.

Removal of copper, zinc and nickel from cobalt

EW solutions.

Environmental clean-up.

Electrowinning (EW)

Cellhouses from small heap leach manual operations to

large-scale, automated systems. Crossflow Electrolytic Cells

Improved catholyte distribution flow pattern around

each cathode. They can accommodate cathode or

anode bags and / or a close-capture aerosol / gas

emission system, providing a safe work environment,

important in nickel and cobalt EW circuits.

Cellhouse Layout

Low-cost operating facilities for manual and automated

strip plants.

Alternative Metal Production Processes

Nickel / cobalt hydrogen reduction circuits and periph-

erals, eg briquetting, sintering.


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COBALT RECOVERY

Tenova Mining & Minerals specialised expertise enables

production of high-quality cobalt metal.

Leach

Cobalt is often recovered into solution with copper and

nickel in the primary leach stage.

Purification by Precipitation

Cobalt solution streams can be purified by precipitation

before metal production.

Solvent Extraction

SX is often used to remove selected impurities and cobalt

itself from solution streams.

Ion Exchange

IX is used to remove critical impurities from cobalt EW

circuits.

Electrowinning

Tenova Mining & Minerals has specialised expertise in EW

of copper, which does not electro-plate easily. It can offer

divided and undivided cell technology.

NICKEL EXTRACTION PYROMETALLURGY

Pyrometallurgical plants still process a high percentage of

non-ferrous metal ores and flotation concentrates, despite

the advent of new hydrometallurgical treatment routes.

Tenova Mining & Minerals has a number of references inpyrometallurgical plants for PGM operations, where nickel

is often a by-product. This process could potentially apply

to a primary nickel process route.

Smelting

Electric-arc furnace technology, as well as other

technologies such as flash smelting and top submerged

lance furnaces.

Tenova Mining & Minerals DC furnace technology is also

being increasingly applied in the ferronickel industry.

Converting

Conventional Peirce-Smith converters, top-blown rotary

converters and top submerged lance furnaces.

Peripherals

Proprietary engineered systems.

Belt, chain and pneumatic conveyors for furnace feed,

sluices, etc.

Metal, matte and slag tapping and granulation.

Off-gas scrubbing. Bag-houses.

Electrostatic precipitators.

Acid plants.


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PROCESS MODELLING

Tenova Mining & Minerals utilises simulation programs for

front-end modelling of chemical and physical processes.

Steady-State Simulation

Limn, Metsim, Aspen and Pyrosim models for a range of

unit operations commonly used in base metal comminution,

flotation, hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy operations.

JK-SimMet for examination of comminution circuits.

Dynamic Simulation

SysCAD models transient operating conditions, providing

upset analysis, surge verification and downstream

debottlenecking.

When interfaced with actual control hardware, it is atimesaving control system for debugging and an excellent

training tool.

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational

Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

FEA and CFD are applied in design of furnace

components and for design of a wide range of other

process and mechanical equipment.

The response of structures to loads and flow characteristics

of fluids and gases is determined without the need to build

and test costly prototypes and to conduct lengthy field trials.

Engineering Design and Drafting

Proprietary and in-house developed software to develop

cost effective designs.

2D and 3D drafting to provide a balance of cost

effectiveness across the design office, fabrication

shops, construction site and operator training

requirement.

3D-modelling packages.


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www.tenova.com

TECHINT GROUP

Tenova Mining & Minerals

58 Emerald Parkway RoadGreenstone Hill Ext 21 1609PO Box 7737Johannesburg 2000South AfricaPhone +27 11 899 9111Fax +27 11 899 [email protected]

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Processing Nickel Ore and Cobalt Recovery