SGS announced that it has produced high-purity nickel sulfate from polymetallic nodules, suitable for the battery chemicals market, during tests.
The world’s leading testing, inspection, and certification company was contracted by The Metals Company (TMC) to test, confirm, and optimize its onshore processing flowsheet.
The nickel sulfate was generated during hydrometallurgical bench-scale testing of TMC’s matte samples produced from their upstream pilot plant operations at SGS’s Metallurgical Center of Excellence testing facility in Lakefield, Ontario, Canada.
“The Lakefield-based extractive metallurgy team carried out a comprehensive test work program focusing on the optimization of a flowsheet producing cobalt sulfate, nickel sulfate, copper cathode and fertilizer byproducts from nickel matte samples derived from smelting TMC nodules.” said Stephen Mackie, Senior Director of Metallurgy and Consulting at SGS in North America.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has set a 2025 goal to issue rules governing seafloor extraction.
TMC projects are ranked as the world’s first and second largest undeveloped nickel projects, containing in situ quantities of nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese sufficient to meet the needs of 280 million electric vehicles – roughly the size of the entire US light vehicle fleet.
Ocean floor reserves of metals like nickel, manganese, and cobalt are estimated to be worth anywhere from $8 trillion to more than $16 trillion.
Scientists, however, say very little is still known about the depths of the world’s oceans, and many are concerned about the impacts on these ecosystems already affected by pollution, trawling and the climate crisis.
Source: MINING.COM – Read More
