LionOre fires up Tati hydrometallurgical plant (September 27, 2004)

Nickel miner LionOre Mining International (LIM-T) has successfully commissioned a fully integrated Activox hydrometallurgical demonstration plant at its Tati nickel operations in Botswana.

LionOre describes the plant as the first of its kind in the world, and says that it is performing above expectations as it produces nickel and copper metal as well as cobalt carbonate at the mine site.

Construction of the US$11.5 million Activox plant was completed on schedule and on budget. The ultra fine-grinding mills, the autoclave and the continuous counter-current decantation unit and most of the plant services were operational at the end of June.

Construction and installation of the copper, cobalt and nickel extraction circuits was completed in July 2004. Copper cathodes were produced in July, with production of first nickel cathodes in August.

This represents the first nickel metal ever produced in Botswana.

The demonstration plant uses proprietary Activox leaching technology, solvent extraction, and electrowinning to extract and recover high-purity nickel and copper metal and a high-grade cobalt carbonate from the nickel sulphide concentrate produced at Tati nickel mine.

Each day the plant can treat 8 tonnes of concentrate, and produce 300 kg of nickel cathode, and around 150 kg of copper.

Moreover, the plant has achieved nickel recoveries of over 98%, exceeding the design operating parameters of the plant.

A further scale-up of less than 200-to-1 would therefore produce 20,000 tonnes per annum of nickel.

LionOre regards the completion and commissioning of the demonstration plant as a “key milestone in our Activox hydrometallurgical strategy.”

The plant was designed and built in Perth, Australia, by LionOre’s 80%-owned subsidiary, Western Minerals Technology, using modular designs.

“We see hydrometallurgy playing a key role in meeting strongly growing demand for nickel globally, particularly as global smelter capacity is forecast to approach 90% by 2006,” says Mark Ashley, LionOre’s managing director for Australia. “At the same time, development of new smelter capacity is limited by environmental constraints.”

Hydrometallurgy, says Ashley, offers a relatively low capital cost compared to smelting, eliminates gaseous emissions, achieves high levels of metal recovery, and is capable of treating a wide range of concentrates including those with high levels of impurities.