Effect of pre-roasting on leaching of laterite

The effect of pre-roasting on leaching of the gamierite laterite ore, obtained from Yunnan province, China, was investigated in this study. The phase transformation of laterite minerals roasted at different temperatures was investigated with X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The roasting experiment results show that there are two phase transformation processes of dehydroxylation of goethite and lizardite at roasting temperatures of 277 degrees C and 610 degrees C, respectively, which accord with the result of DTA-TG analysis. Pre-roasting of the laterite not only alters its mineralogical composition but also increases its porosity and surface area, thus making it more amenable to leaching. Compared to the leaching result of raw ore and ores roasted at different temperatures, it indicates that increasing roasting temperature up to 300 degrees C appears to provide the optimum nickel recovery and further heating appears to be detrimental to the nickel recovery. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.