(9425)INCREASING CAPACITY OF NICKEL PRODUCT AT NIIHAMA NICKEL REFINERY

摘要

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd.(SMM)'s Niihama Nickel Refinery(NNR) produces high quality Nickel cathode, Cobalt cathode and other by-products using hydrometallurgical refining process called “MCLE”(Matte Chlorine Leach and Electro-Winning). In 2005, NNR started to use nickel and cobalt mixed sulfide (MS) produced by one of the SMM's subsidiaries Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC)'s HPAL plant in Philippines, although its main and the only raw material until then was nickel matte. With start-up of the second HPAL plant at Taganito in 2013, NNR expanded its production capacity of nickel cathode from 41,000 to 65,000 tpa and finally achieved its target in 2015 by producing 65,980 tpa. SMM developed the technologies to improve poor reactivity of MS and installed new facilities to cope with increased Cobalt and Sulfur production at that time. This paper describes the technical approach to increase MS treatment with high efficiency.