Method of Agglomeration

Abstract

A method of agglomerating a nickel laterite ore comprising the steps of: i) feeding a nickel laterite ore material to be agglomerated into an agglomeration circuit; and ii) adding a sulfuric acid containing agglomerating solution to the ore material in the agglomeration circuit to provide an agglomerated ore material, wherein the acid concentration of the agglomerating solution is between 100 to 400 g/L.

1 . A method of agglomerating a nickel laterite ore comprising the steps of:
 i) feeding a nickel laterite ore material to be agglomerated into an agglomeration circuit; and   ii) adding a sulfuric acid containing agglomerating solution to the ore material in the agglomeration circuit to provide an agglomerated ore material, wherein the acid concentration of the agglomerating solution is between 100 to 400 g/L.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the acid concentration of the agglomerating solution is between 140 to 280 g/L. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein agglomerating solution is added at between 20 and 50 kg of acid per tonne of ore material. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 3  wherein agglomerating solution is added at about 35 kg of acid per tonne of ore. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1  further including a step of:
 adjusting the moisture content of an ore material to be agglomerated to a predetermined level, prior to feeding the ore into the agglomeration circuit. 
 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 5 , wherein the moisture content of the ore material is adjusted prior to agglomeration to be between 5% and 30% wt/wt. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1  further including a step of:
 reducing the size of the nickel laterite ore material to be agglomerated to less than 1 inch, prior to feeding the ore into the agglomeration circuit. 
 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1  further comprising the step of curing the agglomerated ore for a predetermined curing time. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8 , wherein the curing time of the agglomerated ore material is between 1 hour to 10 days. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 8  wherein the curing time of the agglomerated ore material falls within the range of about 1 hour to 10 hours. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the agglomeration circuit includes one or more drum or rotary disc agglomerators. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the agglomerating solution comprises a pregnant leach solution from a downstream heap leach circuit.