Study on Flotation-leaching for a Refractory Nickel Ore

On the basis the research on processing mineralogy of ores, the experimental research on flotation for the refractory nickes ore with the nickel of 0.44% was carried on. At last, the nickel concentrate with the grade of 3.13% and the recovery of 25.53% was obtained, whose index is relatively low. Therefore, the methods of chemical processing or smelting enrichment were considered to be adopted to extract the nickel in the tailings. The nickel sulfate in the ore can be easily dissolved in the pulp, making the pulp acid. At the same time, nickel oxide can be dissolved in the dilute solution and nickel silicate in the high acidity can also be part of the solution. For nickel sulfate, it can be partly digested in the dilute dissolution and better in the oxidation environment. According to these properties, the indexes with the content of nickel as 21.42% and the recovery of 61.84% could be obtained under the optimum leaching conditions. The result is satisfactory.