Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance

Nickel containing goethite in laterite ores shows extreme variability in heap leaching performance. This has been difficult to characterise making utilisation of these ores for heap leaching problematic. The variability of the leaching performance is demonstrated for selected samples using atmospher...

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Main Authors: Wang, X., McDonald, R., Hart, R., Li, J., Van Riessen, Arie
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier Science BV 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41797
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author Wang, X.
McDonald, R.
Hart, R.
Li, J.
Van Riessen, Arie
author_facet Wang, X.
McDonald, R.
Hart, R.
Li, J.
Van Riessen, Arie
author_sort Wang, X.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Nickel containing goethite in laterite ores shows extreme variability in heap leaching performance. This has been difficult to characterise making utilisation of these ores for heap leaching problematic. The variability of the leaching performance is demonstrated for selected samples using atmospheric pressure leaching. Quantitative mineralogical analysis based on X-ray diffraction, crystallite morphology from transmission electron microscopy imaging and the chemical composition measured by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry of the pre- and post-leached laterite ore samples suggests acid resistant (slow leaching) goethite is paragenetically interlaced with silica or kaolinite. Caustic digestion is shown to be effective in breaking up cementation frameworks and liberating the goethite interlaced by silica or kaolinite. Large single domain goethite and high chromium substituted goethite are also identified in the slow leaching samples. A better understanding of the microstructure of the acid resistant laterite ores is expected to lead to improvement in the hydrometallurgical processing for these ores.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2013
publisher Elsevier Science BV
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-417972017-09-13T14:19:37Z Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance Wang, X. McDonald, R. Hart, R. Li, J. Van Riessen, Arie morphology goethite acid leaching caustic digest laterite Nickel containing goethite in laterite ores shows extreme variability in heap leaching performance. This has been difficult to characterise making utilisation of these ores for heap leaching problematic. The variability of the leaching performance is demonstrated for selected samples using atmospheric pressure leaching. Quantitative mineralogical analysis based on X-ray diffraction, crystallite morphology from transmission electron microscopy imaging and the chemical composition measured by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry of the pre- and post-leached laterite ore samples suggests acid resistant (slow leaching) goethite is paragenetically interlaced with silica or kaolinite. Caustic digestion is shown to be effective in breaking up cementation frameworks and liberating the goethite interlaced by silica or kaolinite. Large single domain goethite and high chromium substituted goethite are also identified in the slow leaching samples. A better understanding of the microstructure of the acid resistant laterite ores is expected to lead to improvement in the hydrometallurgical processing for these ores. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41797 10.1016/j.hydromet.2013.09.005 Elsevier Science BV restricted
spellingShingle morphology
goethite
acid leaching
caustic digest
laterite
Wang, X.
McDonald, R.
Hart, R.
Li, J.
Van Riessen, Arie
Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance
title Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance
title_full Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance
title_fullStr Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance
title_full_unstemmed Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance
title_short Acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from Western Australia. Part I: The relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance
title_sort acid resistance of goethite in nickel laterite ore from western australia. part i: the relationship between goethite morphologies and acid leaching performance
topic morphology
goethite
acid leaching
caustic digest
laterite
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/41797