Dissolution of nickel and magnesium from garnierite ore in an acid solution

Abstract

This study relates to a hydrometallurgical process for the effective use of garnierite ore. Firstly, in order to investigate the possibility of concentrating nickel by physical methods such as color sorting, size classification and magnetic separation, detailed mineralogical experiments were carried out by means of the X-ray diffractometer, electron probe microanalyzer and scanning electron microscope. The sulfuric acid leaching of the ore was examined under various conditions. Magnesium and iron in the ore were also dissolved together with nickel. The dissolution rate of nickel, magnesium and iron were determined by the analysis of the experimental data. The recovery of magnesium was also examined from the view point of the effective use of the ore. The rather higher quality of the recovery was achieved by means of the precipitation method.