324 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
Compatible materials of construction are low cost and
readily available.
With the Cuprion process Kennecott demonstrated
recoveries of over 90% for both copper and nickel.
Recovery for cobalt was much lower, at only 50%. It was
thought that the lower solubility of cobalt in the leach solu-
tions at the processing temperatures resulted in the poorer
cobalt outcomes. As shown in Table 1 there is a very small
amount of cobalt in CCZ nodules. As cobalt did not have
the potential markets that it has today, (that is the growing
legacy applications combined with the very large EV battery
market), the less than impressive cobalt extraction achieved
in the testing of the Cuprion process did not concern the
Kennecott researchers who were focused on the significant
nickel and copper which assayed over 1% each.
A key goal of the development of the original Cuprion
process was to limit the actual dissolution of manganese,
which would precipitate as manganese carbonate, while
simultaneously optimizing recovery of Ni and Cu. Iron also
has poor solubility in the Cuprion process so the two major
metallic constituents of the ocean nodules would remain in
the leach residue.
The Kennecott consortium ceased work on develop-
ment of mining and processing systems for CCZ nodules
in the early 1980s, due to unfavorable market and political
conditions at the time.
Figure 3. Cuprion process flow
Compatible materials of construction are low cost and
readily available.
With the Cuprion process Kennecott demonstrated
recoveries of over 90% for both copper and nickel.
Recovery for cobalt was much lower, at only 50%. It was
thought that the lower solubility of cobalt in the leach solu-
tions at the processing temperatures resulted in the poorer
cobalt outcomes. As shown in Table 1 there is a very small
amount of cobalt in CCZ nodules. As cobalt did not have
the potential markets that it has today, (that is the growing
legacy applications combined with the very large EV battery
market), the less than impressive cobalt extraction achieved
in the testing of the Cuprion process did not concern the
Kennecott researchers who were focused on the significant
nickel and copper which assayed over 1% each.
A key goal of the development of the original Cuprion
process was to limit the actual dissolution of manganese,
which would precipitate as manganese carbonate, while
simultaneously optimizing recovery of Ni and Cu. Iron also
has poor solubility in the Cuprion process so the two major
metallic constituents of the ocean nodules would remain in
the leach residue.
The Kennecott consortium ceased work on develop-
ment of mining and processing systems for CCZ nodules
in the early 1980s, due to unfavorable market and political
conditions at the time.
Figure 3. Cuprion process flow