View article

Ultramafic rocks and mineral wastes rank amongst the most plentiful and most reactive feedstocks for carbon mineralisation. Ultramafic rocks commonly host Ni–Cu–PGE and chromite deposits and they can be enriched in gold, silver and cobalt. Recovery of metal resources during ore processing is not 100% efficient and ore processing circuits are typically designed to only recover one or two key elements or minerals. As such, ultramafic mineral wastes can contain valuable, and potentially toxic, first row transition metals at abundances of several percent by weight. We have undertaken a series of synchrotron, laboratory and field experiments to better understand the mobility –and ultimate fate –of transition metals during passive and accelerated carbonation of ultramafic mineral wastes.