Heron Resources reports that a feasibility study is investigating the potential to process 1 Mt/y of nickel laterite ore from the Yerilla project, producing 80,000 t/y of nickel concentrate, containing some 8,000 t/y of payable nickel and cobalt metal, via a reduction roast process. On May 29 Heron entered Framework Agreement with Ningbo Shanshan which provides for Shanshan to undertake the study into treating ore from Yerilla using technology being provided by Shanshan, to produce a nickel and cobalt concentrate for further processing in China.

Yerilla is located some 150 km northeast of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. Here, the mined ore will be screened and reduced in size and dried before being ground and mixed with a reductant and fluxing reagents. After agglomeration, the ore mixture will be processed via a kiln, where the nickel and cobalt undergo chemical reactions which results in the formation of particles of metallic alloy containing iron, nickel and cobalt.

The discharge from the kiln (calcine) contains a mixture of residual ore and the nickel bearing iron alloy. This calcine is crushed and milled and subjected to wet magnetic separation which recovers a concentrate containing the iron-nickel-cobalt alloy. The magnetic concentrate will be shipped to Shanshan’s processing facilities in China where the metals will be converted into raw materials for use in batteries.