Nickel ore is a kind of ore that contains nickel minerals. Nickel ore is divided into sulphide ore and oxide ore. Nickel oxide ore is mostly composed of nickel oxide which is an insoluble substance and is difficult to be employed in industry directly. Therefore, a process to recover the nickel oxide ore is required. The main purpose of the nickel ore beneficiation process is to separate nickel ore from other minerals, while enriching the useful components to obtain the anticipated nickel concentrate.
Nickel ore beneficiation process can be divided into three stages, crushing and grinding, beneficiation and dewatering. In the crushing stage, the main purpose is to gain the particles size of -75 mm so as to meet the requirements of grinding size. According to the characteristics of nickel ore, cone crusher, impact crusher and roll crusher can be choosen. In the grinding stage, the most commonly used machines are ball mill, rod mill, and autogenous grinder.
Then, the mineral can be sent to the magnetic separator for the beneficiation process. Nickel oxide ore is usually attached to other substances, so magnetic separation is used for further separation and is the common beneficiation equipment for nickel ore.
Adopting flotation to separate and concentrate the nickel oxide ore can bring more benefit. In the flotation process, chemicals are added to the ore pulp, to create a favorable environment for the minerals to attach to the bubble, so that they can be lifted to the surface and floated. At the same time, there are also a variety of other minerals, such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, carbonate and silicate, floating in the pulp. After a series of operations of flotation, collectors and inhibitors, the desired Xinhai concentration can be obtained.
Finally, after the beneficiation process, the fine-grained nickel concentrate needs to be dewatered. The dewatering stage of the process is to reduce the water content as much as possible. The commonly used methods include filter press and centrifugal concentrator.
In conclusion, nickel ore beneficiation process plays an important role in abundant resource development, miner development and the national economy. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate scientific and reasonable beneficiation process, and focus on the research and development of corresponding ore processing equipment, to further improve the economic benefit of nickel ore beneficiation.
