Dissolution Behaviour of Lateritic Nicke

In this study, the leaching behaviour of a lateritic nickel ore sample containing 1.87% Ni, obtained from the Karaçam deposit in Eskişehir, Turkey, was investigated using HCl and HCl-C2H5OH-H2O media. The objective was to determine the optimum leaching conditions by analyzing the impacts of variables such as acid concentration, temperature, and reaction time on the leaching process. Leaching tests were performed under various conditions, with the optimal parameters identified as 70°C, 8N HCl, and a reaction time of 90 minutes, resulting in Ni and Fe contents in the solution phase at 97.09% and 97.84%, respectively. Additionally, mixed-aqueous HCl-C2H5OH-H2O experiments were conducted, yielding interesting results for other complex ores, but no advantages over pure HCl leaching were noted. Furthermore, bulk and selective precipitation tests were tested on the leach solutions obtained under optimum conditions for nickel recovery, achieving a 2.94% recovery from the HCl leach solution, while the selectively precipitated nickel grades reached 13.43% after iron removal. These findings provide important insight into the beneficiation processes for lateritic nickel ores.