Continuous bath smelting of nickel concentrate to a low-iron matte

In the present work, laboratory bath smelting tests were conducted to determine the feasibility of continuously smelting nickel concentrate to obtain a low iron matte. High temperature bath smelting experiments were carried out with industrial copper-nickel-cobalt concentrate fed into a molten matte and slag bath in MgO crucibles at 1300°C. Various oxygen enrichments and smelting rates were used to try to maintain 1.5--3 weight percent iron in the matte while minimizing the loss of pay metals to the slag.;The investigation found that the continuous bath smelting process is feasible in order to smelt nickel concentrate to a low iron matte with smelting rates comparable to current industrial processes. The investigation also showed that as the amount of iron in the matte decreased, the amount of pay metals lost to the slag increased.