Abstract:

Abstract The main activity of the Talvivaara Mining Company Plc. is the development and exploitation of the Talvivaara deposits in Sotkamo, Finland using bioheapleaching. The Talvivaara deposits comprise one of the largest known sulphide nickel resources in Europe with 1004 million tonnes of ore, sufficient to support anticipated production for a minimum of 45 years. The mine started in late 2008 and will have an annual nickel output of approximately 50,000 tons when it reaches full production. In addition, the mine will also produce zinc (approximately 90,000 tpa), copper (approximately 15,000 tpa) and cobalt (approximately 1,800 tpa) as by-products of the process. The viability of bioheapleaching technology for the extraction of nickel has been demonstrated in a large on-site pilot trial using Talvivaara ore. The three year pilot has shown that the leaching process also works well in the subarctic climatic conditions of Eastern Finland.

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