The present invention addresses the problem, in methods for producing a metal or alloy by reducing a mixture that contains an oxide ore, of providing an oxide ore smelting method with good productivity and efficiency. The present invention is an oxide ore smelting method for producing a metal or alloy by reducing a mixture that contains an oxide ore, the method comprising at least: a mixing step S1 for mixing an oxide ore with a carbonaceous reducing agent; a mixture-molding step S2 for molding the mixture obtained to obtain a mixture-molded body; and a reducing step S3 for heating the mixture-molded body obtained at a specified reducing temperature in a reducing furnace.

Provided is a smelting method for producing metal by reducing a mixture that includes an oxide ore such as nickel oxide ore, wherein it is possible to improve productivity by raising the metal recovery rate as well as to inexpensively and efficiently produce high-quality metal. The present invention is a smelting method in which: an oxide ore and a carbonaceous reducing agent are mixed; the resulting mixture is heated and subjected to a reduction treatment; and metal and slag, which are reduction products, are obtained, wherein the reduction treatment is carried out in a state in which one or more surface deposits selected from carbonaceous reducing agents, metal oxides, and oxidation inhibitors are deposited on the surface of the mixture.

Provided is a smelting method capable of effectively promoting a reduction reaction on pellets formed using nickel oxide ore as starting material to obtain a ferronickel alloy with a high nickel grade of at least 4%. The present invention is a method for smelting nickel oxide ore wherein ferronickel alloy with a nickel grade of at least 4%, the method comprising a pellet-producing step S1 for producing pellets from nickel oxide ore, and a reducing step S2 for reduction-heating of the obtained pellets in a smelting furnace. In the pellet-producing step S1, the pellets are produced by mixing nickel oxide ore with a specified amount of a carbonaceous reducing agent as starting materials. In the reducing step S2, the produced pellets are charged in a smelting furnace in which a carbonaceous reducing agent (furnace bottom carbonaceous reducing agent) has been spread over the entire furnace bottom and reduction-heating is performed.

A smelting method capable of obtaining an iron-nickel alloy having a high nickel grade of 4% or higher by effectively facilitating a reduction reaction of pellets formed using a nickel oxide ore as a raw material. The present invention is a method for smelting a nickel oxide ore, by which an iron-nickel alloy is obtained by forming pellets from a nickel oxide ore and reducing and heating the pellets. In the pellet production step S1, a mixture is obtained by mixing raw materials that contain at least a nickel oxide ore and a carbonaceous reducing agent. In the reduction step S2, a furnace floor carbonaceous reducing agent is laid on the floor of the smelting furnace in advance when placing the obtained pellets in the smelting furnace and the pellets are placed on the furnace floor carbonaceous reducing agent and then reduced and heated.

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 purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for smelting oxide ore, the method being capable of efficiently producing high quality metal. The present invention pertains to a smelting method for producing a metal such as ferronickel as a reduced product by reducing a mixture of a carbonaceous reducing agent and an oxide ore such as nickel oxide ore, the method comprising a reduction step in which the mixture is charged into a reduction furnace and the oxide ore is reduced by heating the mixture with a burner to obtain molten metal and slag. In the reduction step, the molten metal and the slag generated by reducing the oxide ore are separated by gravity separation. In the reduction step, it is preferable to heat the mixture such that the temperatures of the metal and the slag obtained in the reduction furnace are each in the range of 1300-1700° C.

The present invention relates to a method for recovering nickel and cobalt from a nickel, iron, and cobalt-containing raw material. According to the present invention, high concentrations of valuable metals, such as nickel and cobalt, can be recovered from a raw material containing nickel, iron, and cobalt, and especially, the concentrations of nickel and cobalt are low and the concentration of iron is high, and thus when nickel is leached, and relatively large amount of iron is leached, whereas a small amount of nickel is leached. Therefore, the present invention can be more suitably applied in the smelting of nickel ore in which the separation of iron and nickel is difficult.

In a method for producing a metal or alloy by forming pellets from an oxide ore, a method for smelting an oxide ore, wherein a high-quality metal can be produced. Provided is a method for smelting an oxide ore to produce a metal or alloy by heating for reducing a mixture containing an oxide ore and a carbonaceous reducing agent, wherein the carbonaceous reducing agent is composed of particles (reducing agent particles), the number of reducing agent particles which are contained in the carbonaceous reducing agent and have a maximum particle length of 25 m or less is 2% or more and 25% or less of the total number of reducing agent particles contained in the carbonaceous reducing agent, and the average maximum particle length of reducing agent particles having a maximum particle length greater than 25 m is 30 m or more and 80 m or less.

In a method for producing a metal or alloy by forming pellets from an oxide ore, a method for smelting an oxide ore, wherein a high-quality metal can be produced. Provided is a method for smelting an oxide ore to produce a metal or alloy by heating for reducing a mixture containing an oxide ore and a carbonaceous reducing agent, wherein the carbonaceous reducing agent is composed of particles (reducing agent particles), the number of reducing agent particles which are contained in the carbonaceous reducing agent and have a maximum particle length of 25 m or less is 2% or more and 25% or less of the total number of reducing agent particles contained in the carbonaceous reducing agent, and the average maximum particle length of reducing agent particles having a maximum particle length greater than 25 m is 30 m or more and 80 m or less.

Provided is a smelting method in which, for example, a metal oxide such as a nickel oxide ore including nickel oxide is used as a source material and is reduced with a carbonaceous reducing agent to obtain a reduced product, with which method efficient processing can be achieved. This metal oxide smelting method is, for example, a nickel oxide ore smelting method. Specifically, the method includes a reduction process step S3 that has: a drying step S31 in which a mixture that was obtained by mixing a metal oxide and a carbonaceous reducing agent is dried; a preheating step S32 in which the dried mixture is preheated; a reduction step S33 in which the preheated mixture is reduced using a rotary hearth furnace 1, a hearth of which rotates; and a cooling step S35 in which the obtained reduced product is cooled.