HYPER EXTRACTIONS - What's the best path for extraction ?
Build one's own extraction via - third party results from metallurgy ?
Wait ( good year ) time frame with lessor than satidfactory results - partial nickle recoveries ?
Or... .would buying a - PROVEN - extraction that's patented fast track a project placing
a junior at same or even - at a more advanced stage - bypassing all the extraction pilot studies ?
What if there were a good 2 extractions avail for - sulphide nickel ?
What if this extraction used ( chloride ) whichcould accommodate olivine nickel chloride ?
What if flotation phases were eliminated where sepentines are most oftren lost,
and... a new extraction sytem could capture the serpentine nickel ?
One would then...
Be able ot target both kinds of nickel - sulphide + chloride/ Ni2.
Does the Langmuir have nickel in the serpentine.olivines ? Yes....
MICON TECHNICAL REPORT - https://digigeodatareports.b-cdn.net/3124.pdf PAGE - 19 -
85% of the Ni units are associated with sulphide minerals. The
remaining Ni is tied up in serpentine and chlorite and, therefore, considered non-recoverable by means of flotation
HYPER LEACH - by, Metaleach
The technology described in the HyperLeach®patent has the potential application for converting
sulphide concentrates, the source of the majority of the world's base metals production and
resources, through to metal at the mine site. This would eliminate associated expensive concentrate transport costs and replace smelting and roasting, which would in turn remove the associated environmental problems.
It also opens up the possibility of heap leaching some sulphide ores,
notably chalcopyrite, the main copper ore.
MetaLeach's HyperLeach® process, although less advanced in its commercialisation than AmmLeach®, has very significant potential for application.
HyperLeach® is a hydrometallurgical process which has
been developed by MetaLeach for the extraction of metals, especially copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt,
molybdenum and rhenium from sulphide ore deposits and concentrates.
The process utilises chlorine based chemistry to solubilise metals from ores under ambient temperature and pressure conditions.
The HyperLeach® process can be operated as either heap leach or tank leach.
Currently nearly all base metal sulphide ores are processed and concentrated on-site using froth
flotation before being shipped off site to a smelter and refinery for further processing. The costs
involved in selling an ore concentrate include road transport, shipping, smelter and refinery charges and can include penalty costs imposed by the smelter, which are deducted from the payable metal in the concentrate supplied. In addition, in many situations mine owners may not be paid for valuable metal by-products contained in the concentrate. Taken altogether, these charges and costs can amount to up to 40% of value of the metal produced from a mine.
There is considerable scope to do more on-site processing to value add using hydrometallurgy to generate higher returns for mine owners and to make uneconomic ore bodies economic. Although the HyperLeach® process was initially developed to treat directly low grade ores to produce high value metal products on-site at competitive operating costs and relatively low capital costs, the process could also be successfully applied to a wide range of concentrates and mattes.
One of the key benefits of the HyperLeach® process is that, unlike some new technologies, it requires no special purpose built equipment, only the addition of an appropriate leaching circuit or leach pads and collection ponds.
Unlike previous chlorine based processes, HyperLeach® does not require
chlorine gas to operate, the oxidant can be generated on-site via industry standard chlor-alkali
technology. If a low-cost source of chlorine gas is available, then the oxidant can be generated fromthis. A key feature of the HyperLeach® process is that it operates at ambient temperatures and pressure and is eminently suitable for heap leaching.
The HyperLeach® process is extremely rapid,
with flotation concentrates being leached within minutes.
The resultant solution is readily processed using conventional solution techniques, including solvent extraction. The rapidity of reaction and selectivity for sulphides makes HyperLeach® an excellent technology for heap leaching of base metal sulphide ores which are too low grade to treat using the conventional grind, float and smelt processes. HyperLeach® has been shown to be effective for treating nickel ores, concentrate and mattes; treating molybdenite ores, concentrates and flotation tailings; removing zinc from lead concentrates; reducing arsenic in copper flotation concentrates and removing impurities from copper concentrates. HyperLeach® solubilises and mobilises target metals from sulphides with AmmLeach® leaching the target metals selectively.
This combination allows processing of a whole ore body from the oxide cap through the transition zone to the sulphide basement using the same plant by moving from AmmLeach® to HyperLeach® as the ore body is mined. Appendix HyperLeach® Patent Description Method of Oxidative Leaching of Sulfide Ores and/or Concentrates patents pending and granted in Australia. This is a core patent for MetaLeach's HyperLeach® technology. The patent describes a method for leaching one or more target metals from a sulphide ore and/or concentrate containing such, the method comprising the steps of: (a) Exposing the ore and/or concentrate to an aqueous solution of chlorine-based oxidising species in which the hypochlorous acid comprises at least 10 mol% of the chlorine-based oxidising species; (b) Allowing and/or facilitating the oxidation of the target metals by the hypochlorous acid, thereby decreasing the pH such that the predominant chlorine-based oxidising species becomes chlorine; (c) Allowing and/or facilitating the oxidation of the target metals by the chlorine; (d) Allowing and/or facilitating the dissolution of the target metals by the solution species formed during the oxidation by hypochlorous acid and / or chlorine; and (e) Passing the pregnant solution produced thereby to a means for metal recovery. LINK -
https://www.metaleach.com/files/2020/10/HyperLeach-Technical-Overview-2020.pdf
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NICKELEACH - by Metalleach
Process
NickeLeach® is a new hydrometallurgical process for the extraction of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores. Unlike most current processes, NickeLeach® is an ambient temperature ambient and pressure process capable of being run using either heap leaching or agitated tank leaching. The use of such comparatively benign operating conditions ensures a low capital cost compared to those using smelters, Caron process, pressure acid leach plants and hot acid leach plants.
One of the strengths of the NickeLeach® process is the high selectivity of the leaching stage compared with acid processes. The AmmLeach® solution is substantially cleaner than the leach solutions from acid processes, which typically contain very high levels of iron, manganese, aluminium, silica, magnesium and calcium, as well as lower levels of nickel and cobalt. In acid processes, the indiscriminate nature of the leaching process necessitates purifying the leach solution, typically by the addition of lime, to remove the unwanted elements in several precipitation stages followed by solid liquid separation. Each of these precipitation / separation steps results in loss of valuable metals. The nickel and cobalt are most commonly precipitated by the addition of magnesia and sold to refineries for 50-65% of the contained metal value. Even after the value metals are recovered the resultant solution will need to be further treated to remove the calcium and sulphate as gypsum. For autoclave-based processes the acid consumption is typically more than 400 kg H2SO4/t ore, atmospheric leaching processes have higher consumption as, unlike autoclaves, acid is not regenerated within the process.
Acid heap leaching of laterites has become more popular in recent years with variable success. Operationally, they are very difficult to manage since the omnivorous leaching of the acid results in extremely complex solution chemistry which results in significant precipitation of jarosite and gypsum within the heap and elsewhere within the process. This leads to blockages and solution channelling reducing the efficacy of the leaching. The high extents of dissolution also lead to problems with heap stability as the volume of ore is constantly decreasing during leaching leading to slumping and blockages. The long-term stewardship of such an unpleasant residue is likely to be both time consuming and expensive. Acid consumptions of up to 900 kg H2SO4/t ore have been reported for heap leaches. This is typically the greatest operating cost and determines the minimum head grade of ore that can be treated economically.
The acid processes are akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Very large quantities of acid are used and virtually none is recycled with consumptions being typically in excess of 400 kg H2SO4/t ore even for the lowest consumption operations.
In contrast to acid leaching, the purification of the solution occurs during leaching since the only elements soluble in the AmmLeach® solution are the nickel and cobalt. This eliminates any need to precipitate iron, manganese, aluminium, silica, magnesium and calcium as these are essentially insoluble. Once the leach solution has been separated from the solids it can proceed directly to nickel and cobalt separation using a very simple solvent extraction process. The nickel can be electrowon as cathode and the cobalt recovered as a high purity hydroxide eminently suitable for feed to chemical plants. The separation and metal purification from the leach solution is similar to that used in Caron process plants. However, unlike the Caron process, no preliminary high temperature reduction of ore is required as the ore can be treated directly. The similarity of the NickeLeach® refinery to those used in Caron process plants greatly reduces the use of new technology in the process.
The ammonia leach solution is also recycled rather than consumed, greatly reducing the cost of reagent compared with the acid process. The washed tailings will inevitably contain a small amount of ammonia but experience with a copper heap AmmLeach® pilot plant has shown that this greatly encourages revegetation, minimising any problems with ongoing environmental problems.
LINK -
https://www.metaleach.com/nickeleach/technical-details
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Yes.... over the years i've read about many types of - extractions.
Using chlorine, chloride is not new to the industry.
One could begin using the chlorine or chloride format without...
buying another's patented product.
WHY DO I LIKE THE - HYPERLEACH CHLORINE - METHOD ?
converts the sulphide nickel
accommodates serpentine nickel - nickel 2 = nickel chloride.
this chlorine chloride oxidant would homonganize both typeof nickel
allowing for higher recoveries - by including the serpentine nickel .
It's - RAPID - action means faster processing.
Under 10 minute to convert.
Use simple - large vats ( similar to ball mill drums ) rotate to assist with - blending oxidant
drain the lixivant ( pregnant nickel leach )
nickel solution immediates goes to - electrowining ( electrolysis ) = metal nickel
remove waste ores
capture excess chlorides ( reuse )
repeat process using several drums to perform - chloride leaching
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BIO LEACH -
One mixes bioorganisms ( bacteria ) and mixes in, with spraying heaped ores with, inoculum
to feed bacteria .... takes several days, weeks to leachout the metals... and recoveries are
modest to well.. i'll let you read about it....
However, a recovery of 46% Ni, 39% Co and 13% Cu was achieved in 139 days of column leaching including 19 days of acid pre-leaching and 120 days of bioleaching which indicates that nickel and cobalt have the same leaching behavior. Potassium, sodium and iron(III) ions in the leach solution formed jarosite within the ore bed with some nickel and copper ions incorporated into the jarosite precipitates thereby diminishing the overall metal recovery. Magnesium was preferentially leached by acid from the gangue minerals leaving a magnesium depleted silicate skeleton, but discrepancies in the residue analysis indicate that magnesium re-deposits into the silicate skeleton during bioleaching.
Not saying all bioleach company's have same outcome or results...
But... handsdown.... i prefer - Hyperleach.... formats.
Again.... one could use thier own chloride format or design own extraction flowsheet.
And.... i found this lil gem....
Anglo American is into - Bio Leaching.
https://www.angloamerican.com/futuresmart/stories/our-industry/mining-explained/mining-terms-explained-a-to-z/bioleaching-definition-and-process#
I'd just hate to see EVNI run the gamut of,
year or so.... seeing SGS tinker away.... and tinker some more....
And increase with small increments - every few months in press....
Saying, it's comong along, we improves the extraction , by, 5% or 13% from original studies...
To the point - investors fall asleep.... lol
Or.... walk the path of ,something different, something exciting.
Taking the project to a level of....
near finished high end metal product...
Fetching multiple thousands per tonne vs - concentrates that make a junior waste mega
time trying to achieve a condensed cncentrate that's passed of to another who ends up...
reaping all the big profits.
Junior can act the mule for another, or....
Use an extractant that expedites the process - rapid extraction - and off to, electrolysis
making a metal end product.
No other junior is doing so,
Not CNC
Not FXP
Not NION
Not GIGA
It would certainly turn heads in the industry... if a junior decided to break cycle...
Pass on the concentrates... and aim for far larger profits, by passing on the concentrates.
Go for the gusto....
RIVER RUNS THORUGH....
No not the movie... but junior does have an interesting river runningthrough thier claims.
Throwing this in the mix and the what if.... they created green power and ran entire operation ?
$500,000 k from Gov't ( recent press release )
I'd be doing 3 things .....
securing river water rights
pilot studies on - turbine river generators
buy extraction / create one's own chloride extraction ( convert both types of nickels ) ----> chloride
Wouldn't need to piss away ( 550k ) on carbon studies with above extraction formats.
Cheers.....