Ni-Co 2021: The 5th International Symposium on Nickel and Cobalt: Plenary
Sponsored by: The Metallurgy & Materials Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, TMS Extraction and Processing Division, TMS: Hydrometallurgy and Electrometallurgy Committee, TMS: Pyrometallurgy Committee
Program Organizers: Corby Anderson, Colorado School of Mines; Dean Gregurek, RHI Magnesita; Mari Lundström, Aalto University; Christina Meskers, SINTEF; Prabhat Tripathy, Batelle Energy Alliance (Idaho National Laboratory); Fiseha Tesfaye, Metso Metals Oy, Åbo Akademi University; Yuanbo Zhang, Central South University; Sari Muinonen, Glencore; Graeme Goodall, XPS- Glencore; Shijie Wang, Coeur Mining, Inc

Monday 8:30 AM
March 15, 2021
Room: RM 43
Location: TMS2021 Virtual


8:30 AM  
Introductory Comments: Ni-Co 2021: The 5th International Symposium on Nickel and Cobalt: Corby Anderson1; 1Colorado School of Mines
    Introductory Comments

8:35 AM  
Introductory Comments: EPD Distinguished Lecture: Christina Meskers; 1
    Introductory Comments

8:40 AM  Invited
EPD Distinguished Lecture: Ferronickel - Thermodynamics, Chemistry, and Economics: Rodney Jones1; 1Mintek; University of the Witwatersrand; Pyro Consulting
    Ferronickel is used for producing stainless steel and other ferrous alloys. Therefore, the smelting of nickel lateritic ore to produce ferronickel is of great importance to the stainless steel industry. A novel simple thermodynamic model allows one to map the relationships between the Fe:Ni ratio in the ore and the FeNi grade and Ni recovery. The chemical composition of the lateritic feed material, especially the SiO2/MgO ratio, strongly affects the composition of the slag, and how the furnace is operated. The choice of the FeNi product grade is affected primarily by economic and marketing considerations. A blend of thermodynamics, chemistry, furnace design and behaviour, and economics allows good choices to be made around a particular project. The talk will also touch on a little of the history of laterite smelting, and will provide a brief overview of world FeNi production.

9:10 AM  Invited
“Around the Nickel World in Eighty Days” A Virtual Tour of World Nickel Sulphide and Laterite Operations and Technologies: Phillip Mackey1; Ahmed Vahed1; Tony Warner1; 1Worley
    The world production of nickel of 2.38 million tonnes in 2019 ranks 5th in non-ferrous metals after aluminum, copper, zinc and lead. Nickel is produced from both sulphide ores and oxide ores from many countries, with nickel now a vital component in batteries for powering the new electric transportation age. This paper takes the reader on a virtual world nickel tour of sulphide and laterite plants with a focus on smelter facilities. Operations and technology employed at each plant visited on the virtual tour are discussed including a brief historical sketch. Future technology trends identified during the world tour are also discussed. The present authors considered sufficient time was required for a thorough study tour and settled on eighty days - the same as that for the celebrated fictional story of world circumnavigation in the 1870s- a time when nickel was in its infancy and considered a rare metal.

9:40 AM  Invited
A Review of Nickel Pyrometallurgy over the Past 50 Years with Special Reference to the Former INCO Ltd and Falconbridge Ltd.: A Vahed1; Phillip Mackey1; Anthony Warner1; 1Worley
    In the 1970s, Canada was the world’s leading nickel producing country and Canadian firms had big expansion plans. INCO had major in-house research programs underway developing technologies for laterite deposits overseas and for the nickel and copper refineries in Sudbury, Ontario. Two new laterite smelters were commissioned in the 1970s in Indonesia and Guatemala simultaneously based on the Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace Process. Falconbridge undertook similar programs and commissioned the Falcondo laterite smelter in the Dominican Republic based on the company’s proprietary technology in 1971. In the 1980’s to 1994 the emphasis at the Canadian nickel smelters was mainly driven by environmental pressures to reduce SO2 emissions. From the 1990’s up to the present time, significant environmental operational improvements have been achieved in Canada, and the development of technologies for the laterite deposits for Koniambo and Goro projects in New Caledonia were shaped primarily by energy efficiency and environmental considerations. This paper will review these important developments that enabled the technology advances that were achieved by these companies. Other developments in nickel sulphide and laterite pyrometallurgy will also be discussed.

10:10 AM  Invited
Establishing a Domestic Cobalt Supply Chain: Unlocking Challenging Feedstocks: Frank Santaguida1; 1First Cobalt Corporation
    At present, a domestic integrated cobalt supply chain does not exist despite all of the natural resources and processing capacity potential in North America. Cobalt is a key component within lithium ion batteries that power electric vehicles providing thermal stability to longer range energy cells. As a result, the demand for cobalt has grown significantly over the past 10 years and predicted to at least double in the next 10 years. The global supply chain is dominated by China, which produces 80% of the cobalt material used in battery manufacturing and controls a large proportion of the mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo where approximately 70% of the world’s cobalt ore resources occur and is mined.

10:30 AM  Invited
Sustainable Developments in Nickel Recovery Process: John Quinn1; Dennis Berger1; Shijie Wang2; 1Freeport McMoRan Mining; 2Rio Tinto Kennecott Utah Copper Corp
    The conventional practice for controlling impurities and excess copper in the electrolyte at the copper refinery is to bleed a certain volume of electrolyte from the tankhouse and treat this bleed solution in a copper-removal circuit, i.e., deposit out or liberator cells. The decopperized electrolyte is then fed to the nickel sulfate plant, where crystallized nickel sulfate and black acid are produced from the evaporators. Aim at sustainable developments, a new process to recover the nickel was innovated and commercialized to eliminate the production of black acid and to cut the elevated energy cost at the FMI – El Paso Operations. This new environmentally friendly process is narratively described, viz., advanced de-copperization, efficient recovery of sulfuric acid, effective removal of arsenic, antimony, and bismuth impurities, and economical recovery of nickel carbonate. Significant sustainable developments in energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction, are also rationally discussed in this paper.