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By R. W. Hammack

Results for the treatment of a problematic mining wastewater using bacterial sulfate reduction (BSR) are presented. Specifically, a BSR pilot treatment plant (250 L per day) was used to treat Berkeley Pit simulant to discharge standards with the selective recovery of separate Cu- and Zn-sulfide concentrates. Concentrates recovered in these tests contained greater than 50 % of the target metal and met specifications for sale to existing smelters. The biological component of the treatment was found to be surprisingly robust. Scaling and solid/liquid separation problems were encountered but considered normal for sulfide treatment. For Berkeley Pit water, capital costs for BSR treatment was found to be comparable to high-density sludge lime treatment. The value received from the sale of recovered copper ands zinc concentrates paid for all the operating costs.

Jan 1, 1999

By Jenifer S. Heath

Human health risk assessments can be used in mine permitting, and are frequently used to investigate areas of potential contamination and as a basis for remediation decision making. While some states and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Regions have their own guidance for the conduct of human health risk assessments, USEPA Headquarters guidance and the underlying science are changing and advancing rapidly. Even outside the US, USEPA guidance can affect risk assessment costs and conclusions, which in turn can affect cleanup costs or permitting options. This paper summarizes recent USEPA guidance and scientific evidence related to human health risk assessment for mining sites. This paper is designed for non-risk assessors, and so focuses on the potential applications and implications of the new guidance rather than the mathematical and theoretical details.

Jan 1, 1999

By Norihiko Fukatsu, Takashi Iwamoto, Noriaki Kurita, Koji Katahira, Kunihiro Koide, Teruo Ohashi

"The galvanic cell-type hydrogen sensor employing CaZro.9Ino.t03-a. as the solid electrolyte was designed for the measurement of hydrogen activities in molten copper under industrial .conditions. The sensor probe consists of the cap-shaped solid electrolyte with porous platinum electrode on the inside and alumina refractory tube. The gas mixture of the composition 4%H2-0.5%02-Ar was made to flow on the inside electrode. The hydrogen sensor probe was inserted directly into molten copper and the melt was used as the outer electrode. The effect of oxygen activity gradient to EMF was eliminated theoretically by measuring the oxygen activity in the melt simultaneously with an oxygen sensor. The high stability of output and excellent response to the change of hydrogen activity were obtained over the wide range of industrial copper melting conditions.IntroductionIn the metal casting process, hydrogen easily dissolves in molten metals from water vapor in the surrounding atmosphere. Owing to the large difference in hydrogen solubility between liquid and solid metal, dissolved hydrogen becomes a cause of the defects of blowholes in castings or ingots. It is necessary to control the hydrogen content in the molten metals [l]. Using proton-conducting ceramics as a solid electrolyte, high temperature-type hydrogen sensor can be constructed [2]. SrCe03- and BaCe03-based perovskite-type oxides exhibit appreciable proton conduction under hydrogen containing atmosphere at high temperature [3-5]. A hydrogen sensor for molten aluminum using CaZro.91no.103-a. has been developed and widely used in the ·process control in the aluminum melting industry [6,7]. The same type of hydrogen sensor has also been expected in the copper melting industry. .. However, CaZro.91no.103-a shows ·not only proton but also oxide ion conduction in the high temperature and at low oxygen activies like the copper melting· conditions. Then we studied the oxide ion conduction in CaZro.91no.103-a. iit · detail [8]. From the consideration on the EMF of the galvanic cell employing this material as electrolyte, it was shown that the unknown hydrogen activity may be precisely determined from cell potential which is corrected for the effect of oxygen potential gradient And the hydrogen sensor based in this principle was constructed and tested in laboratory-scale [9,10]. We repeated the similar tests in factory-scale and developed the sensor system for practical uses [11, 12]. In this report, the structure and system of the hydrogen sensor for molten copper will be introduced first. The reliability of the sensor will then be demonstrated from the results of experiments for sensor probes carried out in TYK's laboratory."

Jan 1, 2000

By Zhang Qin

Dolomite is main impurity mineral in phosphate ores. In practice of phosphate ores production, the grade of concentrates is only containing P2O5 31-32%.In this study, even the increasing of floatation reagent consumption and decreasing of floatation recovery, economic performance is estimated high according to the decreasing of H2SO4 consumption in subsequent production of phosphate fertilizer and the increasing of products value. In floatation stage, influence factor include the synergism impacts of floatation collector, the stages, time, concentration of ore pulp, which were discussed respectively in this paper. Raw material is characterized by mineralogy, chemical analysis, the grain size analysis and milling test . The results show that the grade of concentration can reach to P2O5 36% by deeply de-magnesium oxide from phosphate ores by floatation , which yield a high added value.

Jan 1, 2009

By Sepp Härkki

The energy crisis in Finland after World War I1 together with a sharp rise in the price of energy caused Outokumpu Oy to consider replacing the electric furnace smelting of copper concentrates by some other method. The flash smelting method developed under these circumstances offered a considerable saving of fuel through the utilization of the reaction heat of sulphides and yielded a high recovery of sulphur in the form of acid. The pilot plant testing of the new process was carried out in the years 1947 - 1948. The process was adopted for the smelting of copper concentrates (1) (2) (3) on a commercial scale in 1949 and applied successfullv to the smelting of -nickel concentrates' at the Harjavalta Works in 1959 (4) (5) (6). In 1962 Outokumpu adopted another type of flash smelting where elemental sulphur is recovered from the gases after the thermal decomposition of pyrite in the flash smelting furnace (7) (8): In recent years, the copper-nickel flash smelter and pyrite process have been combined to produce elemental sulphur instead of SO2 from the smelter gases (9) (10). The basic idea of the Outokumpu flash smelting process for sulphidic ores is that the conventional methods with separate roasting and smelting operations are replaced by a combined roasting, smelting and part-converting process carried out in one unit. The heat generated from the exothermic reactions can thus be used for smelting the ore so that only a small amount of additional fuel is needed. The characteristic of the method is also that the dried, fine-grained concentrate is smelted in suspension, which offers the best conditions for rapid reactions. The recovery of waste heat from the furnace off-gases had been considered already in the original flash smelting system. A

Jan 1, 1976

By Adam C. Powell

A new Cahn-Hilliard phase field model of transport-limited electrochemistry describes phase boundary motion due to oxidation and reduction reactions at metal-electrolyte interfaces. Benchmarks demonstrating the accuracy of the method include open circuit voltage and closed circuit current in metallothermic reduction, and linear stability theory in metal electrolysis, including a new stability criterion for reduction of liquid metal from liquid electrolyte. The model is applied here to understanding cathode interface stability in titanium electrolysis e.g. in the SOM process developed with Uday Pal, and to structure evolution in subhalide reduction of titanium dichloride by magnesium developed by Toru Okabe. Potential for application to new fuel cell and battery systems is also discussed.

Jan 1, 2006

By Nagahiro Saito, Takashi Nishimura, Takamichi Ichikawa, Akio Fuwa

"Yttria-stabilized zircohia (YSZ) has high potential to be used as solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrolyte. However, the high efficiency of SOFC has not been yet achieved due to the high internal resistance of bulk electrolyte. The resistance becomes lower with the decrease in the electrolyte thickness. Thus, the decrease in electrolyte thickness leads to lower internal resistance. . The aim of this study is as follows: (a) to prepare the thin films of YSZ by inductively-coupled RF plasma-enhanced metal organic chemical vapor deposition (PEMOCVD) process using Zr(t-OC4H9)4,Y(DPMh and oxygeil, and (b) to reveal the relationship between the structural characterizations and the process parameters.1. IntroductionYttia-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has, been widely used as not only heat-resistant materials but also the components in automotive oxygen sensors, electrolytes of solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC)(1)(2) and the buffer layers for the high-temperature superconductor because of its low thermal conductivity, good mechanical properties and high ionic conductivity. However, it is said that the internal resistance of the bulk electrolyte is too high to be appropriate as a solid electrolyte for high-efficient SOFC. The authors believe that the thin YSZ electrolyte can give a high performance to characteristics SOFC, since the internal resistance becomes lower with the decrease of electrolyte thickness. Thus the process technology to prepare YSZ thin films is desirable and must be established.In recent years, the YSZ thin films have been reported by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), thermal CVD using metal chlorides (MC) of ZrCl4 and YC(3)(4), thermal CVD using metal organic compounds (MO)(5)(10) Zr(t-OC4H9)4 and Y(C11H19O2)(11) and plasma-enhanced (PE) CVD using MO. Here, these methods are called MCCVD, MOCVD and PEMOCVD. MCCVD has two disadvantages; a large quantity of chlorinated impurities in deposited films and high processing temperature (> 1273K). This high processing temperature leads to damage of substrates in particular, so the application of this technology is limited. On the other hands, the processing temperature by MOCVD becomes and is lower. Unfortunately, the accurate vapor pressures of these metal organic compounds have not been, known so: that it is difficult to control the composition and the film thickness by MOCVD method well. Moreover, the large amount of carbonic compounds in the films prepared by MOCVD method is produced. However, plasma-effect has been reported to decrease large amount of the carbonic impurities by PEMOCVD. However, PEMOCVD has many reaction parameters in plasma processing; the geometry of experimental apparatus, radio frequency, electronic power input and so on. Thus, the general understanding about the relationship among reaction parameters, the composition and crystal structure of thin deposit film by this method has not yet been established."

Jan 1, 2000

By M. Potesser

In the primary and secondary copper industry the anode furnace is the most important process step in the refining procedure to reach an enhancement in value and quality of the copper by a selective oxidation and reduction. By combining the advantages of the conventional tilting hearth anode furnace and the benefits of the drum type anode furnace a new aggregate was developed and patented. The cross-section of the furnace is elliptical and the whole unit is tiltable. During the melting period, the contact surface between the burners and the bath or the scarp is enlarged - an increased energy input is the consequence. For the refining period the furnace is rotated, whereby a high bath level is guaranteed. Due to the longer residence time of the gas in the copper melt, not only the gas consumption is reduced but also the efficiency/quality of the refining process is improved. This investigation shows a metallurgical comparison between the new anode furnace concept with the elliptical profile/cross section and the conventional, tiltable hearth anode furnace as well as the drum type anode furnace. The CFD modeling of the currents in these different furnaces delivered helpful data to compare the geometry of the different furnaces. The investigation covered the refining of blister copper from primary metallurgy, from secondary metallurgy as well as from a mixture of both copper melts. The paper underlines the possibilities for a reduction of the tap-to-tap time and for an increase in production capacity, which can be achieved by applying the new furnace concept in comparison to the conventional furnaces.

Jan 1, 2006

By T. Shibasaki

There is a strong demand in the photo industry to the higher quality of refined silver. Osaka Refinery produces about 27 mtpm of refined silver mainly from copper refinery slimes. Product quality is attained by controlling the impurity level in electrolyte. Copper is cemented with silver oxide and palladium is precipitated by a chelating agent. Both processes were operated previously in batchwise for treatment of bled out electrolyte, Recently these processes have been improved and made continuous to cope with the increased impurity.load. As a result the grade of fine silver has been maintained steadily at Pd < 3 ppm and Cu < 5 ppm.

Jan 1, 1989

By Tracey Brommer, Britt Elin Gihleengen, Elsa Olivetti, Randolph Kirchain

"Increased demand resulting from the economic and environmental advantages of recycling secondary materials has constrained secondary material supply. As a result of constrained supply, the conventional strategy to maximize recycled content in an individual aluminum alloy must be expanded to maximizing total recycled content in a given production period. This work compares the performance over a two week period of an actual remelter for two strategies; a sequential charge-by-charge optimization framework and an integrated approach that explicitly incorporates the production schedule. Optimizing across the entire two week production is found to increase recycled content and minimize primary and alloying material additions. It is expected that as the scrap material market continues to be constrained by high demand, longer term batch planning strategies that can optimize material allocation will deliver improved performance.IntroductionIntensifying economic and environmental pressure to incorporate secondary aluminum into products is pushing remelters to explore additional strategies and tools to increase recycled content. Aluminum remelters are exploring alternative sources of secondary materials because of constrained secondary material supply and relatively high primary and secondary material cost [1]. Computational models, such as blending models are a tool that could help industrial remelters mitigate supply and cost challenges and thereby increase recycled content. In particular, computational tools can help manage the incorporation of new raw materials of variable quality. Blending models find many industrial applications and have been explored for over sixty years originating with the classic nut-mix problem dating back to 1950’s [2]. Blending models optimize the raw material input to make a desired product subject to a series of constraints such as product specifications and material availability. Deterministic and linear blending model formulations are presently implemented in some industrial aluminum remelters [3]. The primary reluctance of aluminum remelters against computational model implementation is the incapability of their blending models to reflect the intricacy of industrial remelting conditions [4]. For example, to reduce calculation time, industrial aluminum blending models usually optimize a batch plan for a single alloy and are not formulated to optimize several products simultaneously. Since such a model does not include knowledge of subsequent charges in the optimized batch plan, the resulting batch plans tend to deplete the “cleanest” secondary materials leaving the more uncertain and compositionally challenging materials for later charges. As a result, a remelter may override the calculated batch plan or leave certain scrap materials out of the material input to conserve these materials for alternative products scheduled for later production. This work explores an alternative aluminum charge planning tool that can optimize across an extended production schedule and compares it to a heuristic sequential optimization strategy reflecting an industrial remelter."

Jan 1, 2012

By Nobuhiro Oguma, Yuji Mizuta, Hideya Sato, Shigehiko Iwahori

"Recyclable materials containing copper and precious metals have been treated at the Mitsubishi Process in Naoshima. In 2003, a new incinerating and melting plant (pre-treatment plant) for waste materials, such as shredder residue of automobile and scrapped appliance, was constructed. All of produced slag/metal mixture is treated at the Mitsubishi Process, and which results in the significant increase of recyclable materials treatment. The combination of two processes has realized a highly efficient and environmentally friendly system for recycling valuable metals in the waste which used to be sent to a landfill. Naoshima continues to make efforts to achieve the highly efficient operations of the two processes, and plans to increase the treatment of recyclable materials further. This paper summarizes the recent operations and the various improvements implemented in the pre-treatment plant.IntroductionRecyclable materials containing valuable metals such as copper and precious metals have been treated at the Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting and Converting Process (Mitsubishi Process) since the start-up in 1991. In the early stages, recyclable materials consisting mainly of metal scrap were charged into the process and the treatment had been increased steadily. In order to promote the recycling business, treatment of various kinds of materials including printed circuit boards was started. However, the treatment hit the ceiling due to a limitation of furnace boiler capacity, since they contained large amounts of combustible materials. In addition, severe corrosion of boiler tubes was caused by halogen contained in recyclable materials."

Jan 1, 2012

By P. Hanniala

In the day-to-day life the copper business of today is influenced directly by the ever-increasing general concern about the environment. In addition to that the inherent shortcomings of the copper smelting business, have since many years been the falling real price level of the metals and the relatively high initial capital investments required for the production units. These shortcomings have been compensated for by high productivity, low specific operating costs, low metal inventory and unbeatable technological superiority. Thus today more than 50 % of the world primary copper is today produced by utilizing Outokumpu Flash Smelting Technology. This figure is expected to grow at an increasing speed in the near future. Characteristic for the Outokumpu Flash Smelting technology is high flexibility for a wide grade of concentrates and the highest sulfur capture owing to at the same time competitive investment and operational costs. The Flash Converting technology offers new options for copper production and optimization of the mine- concentrator-smelter production chain. In the following years it is expected that the trend in copper making is that higher grade concentrates are produced at the mines. Thus increasing amount of high grade concentrate will be available for direct-to- blister Flash Smelting causing an overall cost reduction in copper smelting i.e. both in capital and operational costs. In the &apos;90s new technologies based on Outokumpu Flash Smelting technology have been taken into operation, thus eliminating the non-continuous Peirce-Smith converting process step. New innovative solutions have been used in the latest projects, as in Kennecott Utah Copper, where the new Kennecott-Outokumpu Flash Converting process was started up in 1995. Also, in 1995 the new DON process was started at Outokumpu Harjavalta nickel smelter followed by the Fortaleza nickel smelter in Brazil in 1997. The aim of the continuous development work at Outokumpu has been the expansion of the direct-to-blister process towards lower grade concentrates. The most recent example of this is the start-up at the Olympic Dam smelter in Australia, where the existing direct-to-blister Flash Smelting furnace was replaced with a new one having a capacity of 200 000 t blister copper per annum in just one smelting step.

Jan 1, 1999

By John L. H. Patterson

Handheld XRF has become the favorite way of measuring the content and identity of alloys in the field. This is because of the very portable nature of the instrumentation and its simple operation. However, these analyzers have been unable to determine the concentration of the light elements like Mg and Si due to the very low energy of the x-rays produced by these elements. In the past accessories such as vacuum and He flush have given some analyzers the ability to determine these light elements with modest detection limits. The introduction of the Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) into this class of instrumentation has added a new level of analysis capability to portable XRF instrumentation. X-ray fluorescence is achieved by exciting a sample with a beam of x-rays, which in recent portable equipment are generated by a small tube. This results in the emission of characteristic x-rays from the sample under test. By measuring the energy of each x-ray it is possible to determine what element generated it. By counting the number of x-rays at each energy it is possible to determine the concentration of each element. The detection limit for each element is dependent upon the number of x-rays which reach the detector. As the number of x-rays increases the detection limit will improve. One of the major factors in an x-ray reaching the detector is the energy of the x-ray. As the energy of an x-ray increases the probability of that x-ray reaching the detector increases. The energy of an x-ray is inversely proportional to the atomic number (AN) of the element generating the x-ray. For example, an iron x-ray (AN=26) is 6.40 keV while an aluminum x-ray (AN=13) is 1.49 keV. As the energy decreases, the detection of the x-ray becomes less and less probable because the x-ray may be absorbed by the windows which are part of the instrument and detector or the air in the path between the sample and detector. In SiPIN based portable XRF analyzers, the lowest element which is detected with acceptable detection limits is normally considered to be Ti (AN=22). The detection limits for 60 second measurements on typical SiPIN XRF analyzer are given in Table I. Thus, portable analyzers have not been useful for measurement of aluminum and titanium alloys as major components of these alloys are Mg (AN=12), Al (AN=13) and Si (AN=14).

Jan 1, 2009

By Youngkook Lee

The precipitation kinetics of NbC in ferrite matrix of the Nb microalloyed steel was investigated experimentally and numerically. The mole fractions of NbC precipitates formed at different isothermal temperatures were measured as a function of holding time by electrical resistivity test and were compared with both a mathematical model based on time-dependent nucleation and growth rates and the hardness. There is a good match among the calculated and measured precipitation kinetics of NbC and the hardness. The isothermal precipitation-temperature-time diagram of NbC in ferrite matrix of the Nb microalloyed steel was newly generated. Keywords: Precipitation, Carbide, Ferrite, Nucleation, Growth, etc

Jan 1, 2003

By M. Ide, K. Takemura, S. Taenaka, K. Shinzawa

"The laser characteristic is strongry dependent upon the stoichometry of forsterite (Mg2Si04) and YSO (Y2Si05) single crystals, because of change in the valency and occupied sites of doped Cr in the lattice so that mole ratios of Mg0/Si02 and Y203/Si02 in the above single crystals must be precisely analyzed. In this study ICP-AES was applied for analyzing the mole ratios. Emission intensities corresponding to Si and Mg or Si and Y were measured at the same time with internal standard method. Preparation of sample solutions, measurement conditions of ICP-AES and interferences by coexisting components were discussed, resulting in excellently precise detennination of stoichometry of the above single crystals.IntroductionIn conventional stoichiometric analysis of single crystals, the stoichiometry is detennined by analyzing each component separately with titrimetry and gravimetry techniques. On the other hand, by stoichiometric analyses using ICP-AES, emission intensities corresponding to components are measured at the same time with internal standard method. Consequently erros caused by variation of analytical condition are canceled out.Cr-doped Mg2Si04 and Y2Si05 syngle crystals are known as laser materials. The change of valency and occupied sites of doped Cr affect the characteristic of single crystal as aleser materials. The change of state of doped Cr.Stoichometric composition of Mg2Si04 is constructed by 2mole of MgO and 1mole of Si02, and Y2Si05 is constructed by 1mole of Y203 and 1mole of Si02. In this study, required analytical precision in component mole ratio is within an error of 0.0010 for Mg2Si04 (CV=0.05wt%), and within an error of 0.0030 for Y2Si05 (CV=0.05wt%) (Table I )."

Jan 1, 1998

By Cesar Garban

The samples of the washings are characterized of the ore for physical, chemical and metalurgical properties for representivity. the optimum values are determined for the recuperation of gold of the washings of the gold ore from the zone El Callao, Venezuela by acidic solutions of thiourea of the following parameters: Ph , contact time, composition of the liquid mixture, ratio of solid to liquid, grade of liberation, in an apparatus designed for contacting solid powder of the mineral with liquid solution of thiourea mantained in suspension by bubles of compressed air. The experimental results showed that the velocity of lixivation in primier time of (20) minutes is rapid and practically 2/3 part of the reaction is completed. For experimental design of parameters, the optimum conditions of recuperation of gold determind in this experimental investigation are:

Jan 1, 1999

By J. M. Khodadadi

"A computational study of the effect of thermocapillary convection on melting of a droplet under the influence of an incident uniform heat flux is presented. The computations are based on an iterative, finite-volume numerical procedure using primitive dependent variables, whereby the time-dependent continuity, momentum and energy equations in the spherical coordinate system are solved. During the early periods of the melting process, conduction mode of heat transfer is dominant. As the thermocapillary convection is strengthened due to the growth of the melt zone, melting on the side of the droplet is observed to be much faster in comparison to the conduction-only case. Due to the skewedness of the temperature field, a new recirculating vortex is created which promotes melting within the droplet. The effects of the change in the sign of the surface-tension temperature coefficient on the melting pattern are also investigated.1. IntroductionMelting and solidification of materials are important processes which are encountered in nature and numerous industrial applications. Due to the recent upsurge of interest in such processes as spray casting, space radiators, rapid solidification, purification of materials, containerless processing, etc., there is a need to analyze the transport phenomena of melting and solidification in spherical configurations. Specifically, the effect of thermocapillary convection on the melting of metallic droplets has not been addressed at all. Only a few authors have studied the transport phenomena without phase change in spherical droplets. Oliver and DeWitt [l] worked out a series solution for the thermal and surface-tension-driven flow fields for a droplet experiencing an irradiant energy flux in the microgravity environment. Kudo et al. [2] solved the coupled momentum and energy equations numerically for the same problem without dropping the convective terms. Due to the nonexistence of any previous work on transport phenomena during the thermocapillary-assisted melting of metal droplets, this study was initiated to elucidate the features of the phenomenon."

Jan 1, 1999

By C. Lupi

The electrorefining of primary copper is a well known technology: in this work copper scrap was directly processed in the same way. he copper and copper alloy scrap was previously pressed by means of a 20 tons apparatus in order to avoid pyrometallurgical operations. The samples obtained in this manner showed a good compactness so that they were used as anodes in the electrorefining tests. The tests were carried out on anodes made by copper scrap, copper alloy scrap and a mixture of the two. The electrorefining tests were performed at both 303 and 333 K, in a perspex cell having a volume of 500 ml using a current density of 250 A/m2. The cathode used was always a sheet of pure copper and the electrolyte composition was 40-50 g/l Cu as CuS04 and 150-200 g/l H2SO4. Current efficiency in the range of 92-97% and specific energy consumption ranging from 0.14- 0.20 kWg of copper were reached in all the tests. The refined copper deposits were analyzed by AAS to verify their purity and observed by SEM to highlight their morphology.

Jan 1, 1998

By J. Pérez

A lead smelter slag with high copper, lead, arsenic and silver contents was treated at laboratory scale for arsenic removal. The slag was first leached at atmospberic pressure with sulfuric acid and oxygen. According to arsenic contents leaching of most of the arsenic was achieved in either one or two stages, producing a lead-silver rich residue and a solution high in copper and arsenic concentrations. Alternative routes were considered to treat the resulting solution. Firstly, solvent extraction of arsenic with a mixture of TBP and 2-etbyl-bexanol was tested and extractions of over 95 percent of arsenic were achieved. Secondly, a copper arsenate precipitation treatment was done to eliminate arsenic and copper from solution.

Jan 1, 1996

By Neusa Alonso-Falleiros, Aristeu Braz da Veiga, Marcelo B. Mourão, Adriano Pescarmona, Antonio Alberto Froes Schettino, Cyro Takano, Carlos A. S. Giraldo

"The Caron process of nickel extraction from lateritic ores produces a fair amount of an inert residue, the so-called “black sludge”, that is disposed in a dam according to the required environmental regulations. On the other hand, it represents an opportunity to resource recovery. This work presents the characterization of the residue, discusses some possible ways to recover the valuables, and presents experimental results of pyrometallurgical runs aimed at recover nickel as an iron-nickel alloy. It has been shown that the residue contains large amounts of silicon, iron, aluminum and magnesium, in the form of oxides and silicates, and small quantities of nickel, cooper and cobalt, besides several other elements. It has also been shown that gravimetric or magnetic concentration methods do not present promising results. On the other hand, it is possible to obtain iron-nickel alloys by high-temperature carbothermic reduction of the “black sludge”.IntroductionThe Caron process consists of a combined pyro-hydrometallurgical process to extract nickel from high iron limonitic lateritic ores, recovering also the cobalt present in the ore. The main steps are the reduction roasting of the ore, aiming at a selective reduction of nickel and cobalt to the metallic state, avoiding as much as possible iron reduction, followed by leaching with ammonium carbonate solution and the recovery of metal from the pregnant liquor [1,2]. As a result, significant amount of tailings are generated, that are disposed in appropriate dams. This residue, called “black sludge”, contains significant proportion of silica and iron, and also small amounts of nickel, cobalt, cooper and some other elements. Due to diminishing deposits of nickel ore, high metal prices and a significant amount of “black sludge “ available after several years of operation of the plant, Votorantim Metais, who operates a facility in Brazil that uses the Caron process, decided to explore the possibility of recover nickel from the residue. This paper presents the characterization of the residue, and the results of experimental work aiming recovery of nickel from it."

Jan 1, 2008