Niwest nickel laterite
http://www.gmeresources.com.au/
nickel, cobalt
Phone:
Address:
78 Marine Terrace, Freemantle, WA, 6160
State: 78 Marine Terrace, Freemantle, WA, 6160
Email:
The NiWest Nickel Laterite Project, located 50 kilometres east of Leonore,at Murrin Murrin, in the North Eastern Goldfield Region of WesternAustralia, is wholly owned by NiWest Limited, a fully owned subsidiary ofGME Resources, a Perth based nickel exploration company.
NiWest Nickel Laterite Project has a Nickel Laterite Resource of MoreThan 100 Million Tonnes
The NiWest Nickel Laterite Project contains a world class nickel laterite resource of 100 million tonnes that will be mined by means of a low strip open cut mining method. The project includes seven separate tenements covering an area of 500 square kilometres.NiWest Nickel Laterite ore to be Processed by Heap Leach Method
As a result of thorough testing and research, undertaken by GME Resources since 2010, it has been decided to develop the processing of the ore by means of a nickel heap leaching method. The research also resulted in GME Resources developing and patenting a regeneration and laterite agglomeration technology that will enable all ore types to become heap leachable.
The NiWest Nickel Laterite Project is believed to have the potential to be developed into a low cost, long term, nickel mine because of its heap leach processing method as well as it being located near established infrastructure that includes a bitumen access road, a natural gas pipeline, established mining townships, nickel refineries and railway services. The surrounding land is flat and arid which lends itself to the development of a successful heap leach processing operation.
NiWest Nickel Laterite Mine to be an Open Cut Operation
The ore body at the NiWest Nickel Laterite Project will be mined via an open cut method, after which, it will be crushed before being subjected to agglomeration and ore stacking. Multi stage leaching of the ore produced at the NiWest Nickel Laterite Project will produce LME cathode nickel as well as a cobalt carbonate precipitate after being exposed to acid regeneration, the removal of iron, neutralisation and solvent extraction before finishing up with electrowinning.
The heap leach solution circuit will include the removal of iron and the acid regeneration process through its use of a dynamic on-off pad system where the spent ore and residue will be removed and discarded into a pit.
The solution generated by the heap is known as a PLS (Pregnant Liquor Solution), this solution is then subjected to solution neutralisation where the iron content is removed. This is followed with the removing of the solvent and finally the electrowinning takes place. Cobalt is recovered by means of a separate operation that separates it from a precipitated carbonate product.
The sulphuric acid used in the process will be obtained from within the region and taken to the NiWest Nickel Laterite Project processing facility by either rail or road transport. All energy needs will be met with power produced by gas fired generators, the gas sourced from the nearby gas pipeline. Calcrete required in the neutralisation process will also be sourced locally.
