Polycrystalline diamond compacts having interstitial diamonds and methods of forming polycrystalline diamond compact shaving interstitial diamonds with a quench cycle are described herein. In one embodiment, a polycrystalline diamond compact includes a substrate and a polycrystalline diamond body attached to the substrate. The polycrystalline diamond body includes a plurality of inter-bonded diamond grains that are attached to one another in an interconnected network of diamond grains and interstitial pockets between the inter-bonded diamond grains, and a plurality of interstitial diamond grains that are positioned in the interstitial pockets. Each of the plurality of interstitial diamond grains are attached to a single diamond grain of the interconnected network of diamond grains or other interstitial diamond grains.

A system and method for improving leach kinetics and recovery during above-atmospheric leaching of a metal sulfide is disclosed. In some embodiments, the method may comprise the steps of: (a) producing a metal sulfide concentrate [34] via flotation; (b) moving the produced metal sulfide concentrate [34] to at least one chamber [22a] of at least one reactor such as an autoclave [20]; (c) leaching the produced metal sulfide concentrate in said at least one chamber [22a] in the presence of oxygen [82] at a pressure and/or temperature above ambient, and in the presence of partially-used [25] and/or or new [92] grinding media within the at least one chamber [22a]. Systems [10] and apparatus [20, 200] for practicing the aforementioned method are also disclosed.

This invention relates to a method for processing nickel laterite ore, including the steps of obtaining a mined laterite ore from a mining operation 42; and feeding the ore through a bulk sorter 44 comprising a sensor arrangement and a diverting mechanism that separates the ore into a beneficiated stream of nickel laterite ore 28 wherein the grade of nickel is higher than the grade of the ore fed into the bulk sorter for further processing 52 by leaching or smelting; one or more low grade fractions of ore 50 with a lower nickel grade than the beneficiated stream; and a waste fraction 46. This configuration efficiently separates lower grade patches in the run of mine ore, to either a low-grade stockpile or waste, and efficiently blends the selected high-grade ore to meet the specifications of the subsequent processing.

The present invention relates to a process for producing a cathode active material precursor having a desired active material target ratio for use in a lithium-ion secondary cell or in the production of a lithium-ion secondary cell.

A method for producing an aqueous solution containing nickel or cobalt includes: (A) a leaching step, which includes a first atmospheric pressure heating leaching step and a second atmospheric pressure heating leaching step, in which a raw material is heated and leached under an atmospheric pressure to form a leachate solution containing nickel, cobalt, and impurities; (B) a first extraction step of separating the leachate solution into a first filtrate containing nickel and impurities and a first organic layer containing cobalt and impurities by adding a first solvent extractant to the leachate solution; (C-i) a precipitation removal step of precipitating and removing impurities including magnesium, calcium, or a mixture thereof by adding a precipitating agent to the first filtrate; and (D-i) a target material precipitation step of selectively precipitating a nickel cake containing nickel by adding a neutralizing agent to the first filtrate.

An autoclave for pressure oxidation of a slurried material including at least one sulfide material, and a method. The autoclave includes a pressure vessel for receiving the slurried material. The pressure vessel includes compartments being arranged horizontally one after the another and separated by dividers. Each divider is provided with an upper edge or at least one opening that defines level of the slurried material in the compartment. An inlet is arranged for feeding oxygen-containing gas into the pressure vessel. An agitator arrangement is arranged for agitating the slurried material in at least one of the compartments, the agitator arrangement including at least an upper impeller and a lower impeller, the impellers arranged along a vertically aligned shaft. The upper impeller is arranged at a height above the mid-level of one of the compartments, and the upper impeller is an upward pumping axial or mixed flow impeller.

Provided is a method for enabling recovery of metal element leaching capacity of a deep eutectic solvent used for leaching a metal element from an ore containing the metal element. A method for recycling a hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent disclosed here includes: preparing a hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent used for leaching a metal element from an ore containing the metal element; and bringing the hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent and hydrochloric acid into contact with each other. In the hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent, a hydrogen bond donor is a carboxy group-containing compound, and a hydrogen bond acceptor is chloride salt. The amount of use of the hydrochloric acid is such that hydrogen chloride is 1 mole or more with respect to 1 mole of the hydrogen bond acceptor.

A leaching agent composition, and a method of using the leaching acid composition to remove metal from catalyst material, are provided in which the leaching agent composition comprises oxidized disulfide oil (ODSO). Active phase metals and/or contaminant metals are removed, for example after typical oil removal and drying steps. Advantageously, ODSO, which is derived from a refinery waste stream, is used to replace and/or supplement commonly used leaching acid such as sulfuric or nitric acid to remove metals used in catalyst preparation or contaminant metals deposited onto the catalyst surface.

A nickel recovery process capable of decreasing nickel remaining in a byproduct by recovering nickel from the byproduct of electrolytic nickel manufacturing process by chlorine-leaching, and also, capable of simplifying a cementation step simultaneously, is provided. In a nickel recovery step S60, a nickel recovery step S70 and a nickel recovery step S80, nickel is recovered in each step from S.sup.0 slurry, residue flaker and chlorine-leached residue, which are byproducts of electrolytic nickel manufacturing process by chlorine-leaching, by using an aqueous solution containing 80 g/L to 390 g/L of chlorine and 30 g/L to 70 g/L of copper.

The invention relates to a method for recycling used lithium batteries containing the steps: (a) digestion of comminuted material (10), which contains comminuted components of electrodes of lithium batteries, using concentrated sulphuric acid (12) at a digestion temperature (T.sub.A) of at least 100? C., in particular at least 140? C., so that waste gas (14) and a digestion material (16) are produced, (b) discharge of the waste gas (14) and (c) wet chemical extraction of at least one metallic component of the digestion material (16).