PROCESS OF UPGRADING NICKELIFEROUS OXIDE ORES OF LATERITIC ORIGIN

摘要

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA process of upgrading garnieritic ores, oxidised nickel-iferous ores of lateritic origin which includes subjecting theore to controlled attrition and classifying particles so formedaccording to their size, those having a dimension smaller thana predetermined value being recovered. The present specifi-cation discloses, among other things, a process for upgradinggarnieritic ores at least 0.5% in nickel comprising the stepsof: (a) subjecting a raw garnieritic ore to a preliminarygrinding or crushing to produce an ore in which about 80% ofthe ore particles have a size between about 5,000 and 100microns; (b) subjecting the resultant ore to a controlledattrition whereby the ratio d90/d10 increases by a factor ofat least 2.0; and (c) recovering the particles of a sizebelow 10 microns whereby a nickel recovery of at least 70is accomplished.