A NOVEL PROCESS FOR CONCENTRATION OF POLYMETALLIC MANGANESE SEA NODULES FOR EXTRACTION OF VALUABLE METALS LIKE NICKEL, COPPER, COBALT AND MANGANESE

摘要

A novel process for concentration of polymetallic manganese sea nodules for exraction of valuable metals like copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese which comprises; i) crushing and grinding polymetallic manganese sea nodules to - 100 mesh BSS size, ii) pressure leaching the said ground polymetallic manganese sea nodules in caustic solution of strength in the range of 30 - 50% at a temperature 200 - 280°C in presence of oxygen at a pressure 40 - 90 kg/sq cm under instant agitation, iii) filtering the slurry so obtained in step (ii) for solid/liquid separation, iv) washing the filtered solid obtained from step (iii) with water to remove alkali and entrapped soluble salts, v) drying the polymetallic magnaese sea nodules concentrate, extracting the valuable metals from the said concentrate by known methods