PROCESS FOR SEPARATING LIMONITE AND SAPROLITE
    7.
    发明公开
    PROCESS FOR SEPARATING LIMONITE AND SAPROLITE 审中-公开
    方法切割和褐腐

    公开(公告)号:EP2370607A1

    公开(公告)日:2011-10-05

    申请号:EP09828442.5

    申请日:2009-11-26

    IPC分类号: C22B23/00

    摘要: A method for separating nickel containing lateritic ore into limonite and saprolite fractions, the method including the steps of : (a) providing said lateritic ore in particulate form; (b) forming a slurry of said particulate ore; (c) subjecting the ore slurry to a size separation procedure to separate the limonite and saprolite fractions on a selected threshold particle size basis wherein the threshold particle size is determined by i) providing a representative sample of said lateritic ore containing said limonite and saprolite fractions, each having a characteristic compositional range of at least one indicator element, ii) subjecting said sample to a particle size classification procedure in which the sample is separated into a number of particle size fractions; iii) analysing a selected number of the particle size fractions to determine the amount of said at least one indicator element in each fraction analysed; and iv) determining said threshold particle size based on the analysis of the particle size fractions by determining a particle size where substantially all of the particles having the characteristic compositional range of the at least one indicator element for limonite are smaller than the determined threshold particle size, and/or substantially all of the particles having the compositional range of the at least one indicator element for saprolite are larger than the determined threshold particle size.