Abstract
The technological scheme of processing of nickel and copper ores from the Urals deposits is substantiated, including calcination of oxidized nickel ore with limestone, partial oxidative roasting of sulfide copper ore, blending of calcines with coke, and melting of charge to obtain copper-nickel matte. The implementation of the scheme will increase the complexity of possible uses of raw materials and ensure a high environmental protection level. A feasibility study was carried out for the organization of industrial enterprise, which entailed the joint processing of oxidized nickel ores and sulfide copper ores with a capacity of 700,000 tons per year of a mixture of initial ores, including 400,000 tonnes of nickel ore and 300,000 tonnes of copper ore (dry weight). Finished products are: copper-nickel matte, containing not less than, wt.%: 3.3 Cu, 4.7 Ni, 0.6 Co, 1.5 g/t Au, 2.6 g/t Ag; granular slag containing, wt.%: 0.01–0.02 Ni, 0.01–0.02 Cu, 0.01–0.06 Co, 13–16 Fe, 44–50 SiO2, 13–14 MgO, 4–5 Al 2O3, 9–11 CaO; and technical grade sulfuric acid (mass fraction of monohydrate not less than 92.5 %). The planned enterprise is expected to produce the following annual volumes of finished products (not less than): 94,900 tonnes of matte; 512,300 tonnes of granular slag; and 235,500 tonnes of technical grade sulfuric acid. The estimated period of project implementation is 13 years. The total amount of investment costs is 1407 million roubles, current costs for the annual production program are 3820 million roubles. The financial results of the investment project are characterized by the following indicators: net profit is 5,735.5 million roubles, net discounted income is 1546.6 million roubles, the profitability index of discounted investments is 2.1, the internal rate of return is 36.4 %, and the discounted payback period is 5.5 years. The results indicate the viability and economic efficiency of the project.
 Keywords: ore, processing, sulfides, oxides, copper, nickel, cobalt, smelting, extraction, products, economy, indicators, efficiency
Highlights
The practice of metallurgical enterprises shows that the existing technologies of nickel and copper production have a number of disadvantages
Traditional methods of processing a copper and zinc concentrates allow extracting copper, zinc and a number of accessory elements into commercial products, while up to 80 % of cobalt and precious metals contained in the ore are lost with pyrite concentrates, cost-effective methods of processing of which have not yet been found
One of the ways to resume the production of nickel from an ONO and simultaneously increase the complexity of use a Sulfide copper ores (SCO) can be the joint processing of these raw materials
Summary
The practice of metallurgical enterprises shows that the existing technologies of nickel and copper production have a number of disadvantages. Selivanov, (2020), “Technical and Economical Substantiation of the Technology of Joint Pyrometallurgical Processing of Oxidized Nickel Ores and Sulfide Copper Ores” in IV Congress “Fundamental research and applied developing of recycling and utilization processes of technogenic formations”, KnE Materials Science, pages [13–18]. TECHNOGEN-2019 ores (ONO) from the Urals deposits, were processed until recently by the outdated scheme, based on the reductive-and-sulfiding melting, and the matte obtained have been pyrometallurgically processed to gain high grade nickel and cobalt. Modification of reducing-and-sulfiding melting a nickel ore by using a copper ore or products of its partial oxidative roasting as a sulfidizer will allow: to exclude the formation of tailings of SCO beneficiation, to transfer nickel matte in the category of copper-nickel matte, to concentrate cobalt and precious metals in matte, to adapt the matte for processing by known routes, and to reduce the transition of sulfur into the gas phase. The results of research in the field of development a scientific bases and search for optimal modes of joint melting these ores [1–4], as well as the results of large laboratory scale and pilot scale tests confirm the prospects for industrial implementation of the technology
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