OJSC “Norilsk Nickel” Mining and Metallurgical Complex

M. N. Naftal, Head of Department of an Industrial Development

V. T. Dyachenko, Head of Department of an Innovation Development

A. A. Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science (IMET RAN)

N. V. Serova, Senior Researcher

V. A. Bryukvin, Head of Laboratory, e-mail: brukvin@imet.ac.ru

M. P. Lysykh, Researcher

OJSC «MMC «Norilsk Nickel» approved a strategy of the company`s production and technical development for the period to 2025. This strategy provides the increasing of nickel production at the expence of widening of the mineral raw materials base of the crude ore sources, which contain nickel. The oxidized nickel ores` deposits belong to these sources. There are shown the prospects of using the hydrometallurgical methods of the autoclave sulphuric acid leaching with obtaining of the sulphide nickelferrous concentrates. These prospects are shown on the basis of the carried out analysis of the oxidized nickel ores` processing technologies. These technologies are currently used in the international practices. A. A. Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science of Russian Academy of Sciences (IMET RAS) involved in research and development for the creating of the effective hydrometallurgical processing technologies of the oxidized nickel ores of different mineral composition. These researchings and development are hold for solving the problems of the increasing of nickel production on the enterprises of MMC «Norilsk Nickel» at the expence of involving of the oxidized nickel ores into the processing. There were considered the raw materials processings of the Serovsk deposit, Buruktalsk deposit (Russia), Cawse deposit (Australia), Las Camariocas deposit (Cuba) and Weda Bay deposit (Indonesia). In terms of raw materials processing of these deposits there is shown that the sulfuric acid could be replaced by more cheap elemental sulfur. It happens by the autoclave leaching. In near-term outlook, this sulfur will be produced in considerable amounts in Norilsk within the ecological program. Meanwhile, the extraction of 90–97% of nickel and 88–98% of cobalt is reached from various samples by the decreased points of the key parameters (temperature 120–200 <sup>о</sup>C and total pressure 1,8–2,3 MPa) in comparison with the sulfuric acid with the high technological parameters` points (t = 250–260 ^оC, P = 4,1–4,5 MPa). This sulfuric acid is traditionally used on the range of foreign enterprises of the autoclave leaching technology of oxidized nickel ores.

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