Why heap leach nickel laterites?

With the majority of nickel naturally occurring in laterite ores but the majority of production still in sulphides, it is high time there was a standalone commercial nickel laterite heap leach operation. The broad success of heap leaching of other metals has allowed hitherto uneconomic deposits to undergo successful economic exploitation, and heap leaching now accounts for at least one third of global copper and gold production. Nickel laterites are no different, every major and several junior nickel miners have evaluated nickel laterite heap leaching over the past decade and shown projects to have robust economics, with much lower capital costs than alternative hydrometallurgical options which have in general been dismal failures, both technically and commercially. Nickel Laterite Heap leaching is simple and flexible, and can be applied to the many laterite deposits that currently have no realistic path to production. This paper aims to review the current state of nickel laterite processing and aims to show that heap leaching of nickel laterites is a viable and economically attractive alternative. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.