The present invention belongs to the technical field of
hydrometallurgy, and provides a method for treating lateritic
nickel ores. The treatment method achieves both the
recovery of
nickel and
cobalt and the production of a by-product, i.e. a
ferrosilicon alloy, by means of
beneficiation, high-pressure acid leaching, cyclic leaching and ore pulp
neutralization, CCD washing, underflow filter pressing, and reduction
smelting. In the method, on the basis of the extraction of
nickel and
cobalt by means of existing conventional methods, reduction
smelting is performed on leaching residues obtained from the high-pressure acid leaching of high-
silicon lateritic nickel ores, so as to obtain a
ferrosilicon alloy; therefore, not only
environmental protection problems caused by the generation of a large amount of leaching residues are solved, but iron and
silicon are also productized and made to be high-value-added products. In the method, the leaching rates of nickel and
cobalt are high after high-pressure acid leaching is utilized; moreover, due to the fact that iron is essentially in the form of
hematite at a high temperature and
high pressure, the consumption of
sulfuric acid and
lime in a subsequent
iron removal process is low, and good economic returns are yielded; the comprehensive
recovery of elements such as nickel, cobalt, iron and
silicon is achieved by means of step-by-step enrichment and purification; and the method has significant advantages in terms of the treatment of high-silicon and high-iron lateritic nickel ores.