Grant: Alliance Grants

Nickel is a designated critical material in Canada for its role in energy, clean, and manufacturing technologies. Canada holds ~2-3 million tonnes of contained Ni in proven reserves, and over 21 million tonnes in resources all in sulfide form, suggesting a sustainable future for the industry for at least several decades. However, the grades of Canada's sulfide ores have declined substantially since the time when Canada was a global leader in Ni production. Further, the industry is threatened by more stringent policies and regulations (e.g. SO2 emissions and decarbonization), and an innovation gap. This is especially true for the processing of complex and lean deposits such as ultramafic ores. As Canada strives to position itself as a major global player in the supply of battery materials and battery manufacture for the electric vehicle (EV) industry, the Canadian mining industry has prioritized its advancement of the untapped ultramafic Ni resources, which is the focus of this project. The work under this proposed NSERC Alliance Grant will advance a breakthrough nickel extraction technology through its commercialization path. The technology promises to unlock the nickel value of the low-nickel ultramafic deposits, a massive nickel resource that is currently challenging to process. The goal of the research partnership is to test and optimize the novel process by a) scale-up studies of the previously completed laboratory work, b) answering key questions on technical and fundamental aspects of the technology, c) developing a detailed process flowsheet, and finally d) performing a techno-economic assessment of the proposed process. These objectives, when met, will guide the decision to the next stage of the technology development leading toward commercialization. The proposed technology has great potential to unlock Ni value in these unconventional ores with significant economic and social benefits for Canada and the communities surrounding current and future mines.