Nickel laterite ore primary resource
Naturally occurring heterogeneous nickel-bearing regolith formed by intense weathering of ultramafic parent rocks, including oxide-rich limonitic, clay-rich and hydrous magnesium-silicate-rich horizons. The USGS deposit model grounds this geological resource identity; excavated or stockpiled unprocessed ore remains within its scope. It is distinct from nickel metal, a mineral species such as goethite, a product-grade commodity and processing-generated laterite tailings. Individual ore samples differ in mineralogy and nickel, cobalt and chromium distribution; their laboratory leaching outcomes do not apply to every laterite or establish extraction from a pure host mineral.
Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (3)
Ore-dependent aerobic bioleaching by a sulfur-oxidizing consortium
bioleaching
Microbial
Associated Organisms:
Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans (NCBITaxon:930)
A living six-strain Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans mixture supplied acidity and increased nickel and cobalt mobilization from some Brazilian laterites relative to uninoculated reactors following the same pH trajectories. The contribution of reductive mineral dissolution is inferred from solution chemistry; neither a specific molecular reduction route nor universal enhancement across ore mineralogies is established.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
DSM 14887T, DSM 504, DSM 622, DSM 103717, DSM 9463 and BGR isolate RAM8 cultures were mixed in equal volumes. The species ID does not identify the mixture or establish any individual strain's causal contribution. Homogenized, sieved (<2 mm), unwashed ore from Barro Alto, Jacare and Piaui was added at 10% w/v to 2-L stirred, air-supplied reactors with 1.5 L salts medium and 1% w/v elemental sulfur at 30 degrees C. Initial pH was 3.0; 10% v/v inoculum grew for four days before ore addition. Methods specify 3 mM ferrous iron in the medium and 3 mM ferrous sulfate before ore addition; the cumulative dose is unresolved. Leaching pH was maintained at 1.5 or allowed to change, with uninoculated controls adjusted to the biotic pH trajectories. BaSt and 1P5 ran for 15 days, BaC for 20, Jacare samples for 24 and Piaui for 15. Dissolved metals were measured by ICP-OES after 0.2-micrometer filtration and acid stabilization. These are laboratory ore assays, not isolated-metal recovery or demonstrations of commercial deployment.
DSM 14887T, DSM 504, DSM 622, DSM 103717, DSM 9463 and BGR isolate RAM8 cultures were mixed in equal volumes. The species ID does not identify the mixture or establish any individual strain's causal contribution. Homogenized, sieved (<2 mm), unwashed ore from Barro Alto, Jacare and Piaui was added at 10% w/v to 2-L stirred, air-supplied reactors with 1.5 L salts medium and 1% w/v elemental sulfur at 30 degrees C. Initial pH was 3.0; 10% v/v inoculum grew for four days before ore addition. Methods specify 3 mM ferrous iron in the medium and 3 mM ferrous sulfate before ore addition; the cumulative dose is unresolved. Leaching pH was maintained at 1.5 or allowed to change, with uninoculated controls adjusted to the biotic pH trajectories. BaSt and 1P5 ran for 15 days, BaC for 20, Jacare samples for 24 and Piaui for 15. Dissolved metals were measured by ICP-OES after 0.2-micrometer filtration and acid stabilization. These are laboratory ore assays, not isolated-metal recovery or demonstrations of commercial deployment.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
hetz_schippers_2025
Laterite Samples, Microorganisms, Bioleaching Experiments and Liquid Analyses methods; Barro Alto Results and Figure 6A: BaSt stockpile ore with pH not maintained gave reported nickel extraction of 83.0 +/- 5.7% after 15 days (mean +/- SD; four bioreactors), compared with 33.6 +/- 0.1% in two uninoculated matched-pH reactors. Corresponding cobalt values were 83.0 +/- 3.0% and 23.9 +/- 0.1%. Percentages refer to mobilized feed metals and are not pure-product yields.
Partial
Source:
hetz_schippers_2025
Figures 5-6 and 8-10, supplementary Figures S1-S3, and Discussion: 1P5 showed no enhancement over its chemical control, Piaui nickel extraction was similar between biotic and chemical runs, and JacF extraction was very low. Results describe some JacC enhancement despite broader acid-only wording in the abstract. JacF replicate counts differ between supplement S1 and S3; no uniform replicate count is inferred. The paper also leaves the aerobic reduction route unresolved. Whole-ore behavior does not establish pure-goethite leaching or a universal advantage of this consortium.
Loading-dependent anoxic leaching of Penamax limonite
bioleaching
Microbial
Living acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing, iron-reducing mixed cultures were associated with reductive conditions and metal solubilization from selected New Caledonian limonites when ore addition was staged. A single high-loading NC1 addition inhibited iron reduction. Chromium(VI) is implicated as an inhibitor, but chemical reductants also leach the ore and other leachate toxicity remains unresolved.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Santos et al. used Penamax NC1 and NC2 ores ground and screened to <100 micrometers. NC1 experiments I and II used a mesophilic consortium reported as type strains of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, 'A. ferruginosus', A. ferriphilus, A. ferridurans and Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans from Bangor's Acidophile Culture Collection. No single taxon or strain is assigned the consortium effect. In 2-L working-volume stirred reactors at 150 rpm, 35 degrees C and maintained pH 1.5, oxygen-free nitrogen removed dissolved oxygen. Starter cultures used basal salts, trace elements, 100 micromolar ferrous sulfate and 5% w/v elemental sulfur; reactor inoculum volume and sulfur loading are not independently specified in the reported setup. NC1 was added once at 10% w/v (I, 30 days), or as 1%, 4%, 5% and 5% additions on days 0, 15, 29 and 43 (II, 15% final w/v; results through day 50). Ferrozine assays tracked iron speciation and AAS measured other soluble metals. These sequential experiments differ in loading and duration and do not establish a matched treatment effect; replicate counts are not stated.
Santos et al. used Penamax NC1 and NC2 ores ground and screened to <100 micrometers. NC1 experiments I and II used a mesophilic consortium reported as type strains of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, 'A. ferruginosus', A. ferriphilus, A. ferridurans and Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans from Bangor's Acidophile Culture Collection. No single taxon or strain is assigned the consortium effect. In 2-L working-volume stirred reactors at 150 rpm, 35 degrees C and maintained pH 1.5, oxygen-free nitrogen removed dissolved oxygen. Starter cultures used basal salts, trace elements, 100 micromolar ferrous sulfate and 5% w/v elemental sulfur; reactor inoculum volume and sulfur loading are not independently specified in the reported setup. NC1 was added once at 10% w/v (I, 30 days), or as 1%, 4%, 5% and 5% additions on days 0, 15, 29 and 43 (II, 15% final w/v; results through day 50). Ferrozine assays tracked iron speciation and AAS measured other soluble metals. These sequential experiments differ in loading and duration and do not establish a matched treatment effect; replicate counts are not stated.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
santos_2022
Methods, Tables 1-3 and Figures 2-3: NC1 experiment I showed little ferrous iron and no microscopically observed cells by day 30, with reported nickel and cobalt extraction of 12% and 41%. Incremental experiment II developed lower redox potentials and more ferrous iron, with 31% nickel and 94% cobalt extraction by the reported endpoint. Cells also declined in II and none were observed at its end. These observations support a conditional consortium-associated process, not sustained growth or an isolated recovered product.
Partial
Source:
santos_2022
Methods and Table 3, Figures 5-6: NC2 experiment IV used a different moderately thermophilic consortium at 50 degrees C, pH 1.5, 5 mM initial ferrous sulfate and staged addition to 15% w/v, reporting 12% nickel and 72% cobalt extraction. Abiotic NC2 experiment V gave 10% nickel and 70% cobalt with three 10 mM ferrous-sulfate additions in four days at the same pH and temperature. V used 1-L working volume and all ore at day zero, so this is evidence for chemical leachability, not a fully matched microbial comparison. Table 4 and Discussion further show that ferrous-iron leachate remained strongly biotoxic despite undetectable Cr(VI); the cause was unresolved. XRD residues showed no major goethite-phase changes, preventing a pure-goethite dissolution claim from these ore assays.
Donor-associated cobalt mobilization and extractability changes in natural laterites
bioleaching
Microbial
Anaerobic incubation with simple organic electron donors stimulated indigenous laterite communities and was associated with altered cobalt and manganese partitioning. Acetate-treated NHM feeds mainly accumulated acid-extractable metal in solids, whereas glucose-treated Piauí feeds also released metals to solution. The evidence supports conditional community-associated mobilization and subsequent chemical extractability, with unresolved direct versus indirect redox pathways and no isolated-product recovery.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Newsome et al. studied composite heap samples spanning horizons: Acoje (Philippines), Çaldağ (Turkey), Shevchenko 11 (Kazakhstan), and Piauí 4 and 23 (Brazil, sampled April 2016). These are mixed natural nickel-cobalt laterites, not processing wastes or pure Mn/Fe oxide minerals. Characterization aliquots were dried at 105 degrees C and ball-milled; that preparation is not stated for the live microcosm feed. NHM biostimulation used 3 g wet laterite, 30 mL anaerobic modified freshwater minimal medium initially pH 7, and 10 mM acetate, with 80:20 N2:CO2 headspace, darkness and 30 degrees C, followed through 90 days. Piauí screening used 3 g laterite/30 mL sterile artificial groundwater with either 5 mM each acetate and lactate or 10 mM glucose. Subsequent main glucose assays used 10 g laterite/100 mL artificial groundwater and 10 mM glucose, in triplicate under the same gas/temperature/dark conditions; endpoint solids were collected at 143 days. Repeat Piauí 23 assays comprised two amended bottles and an additional donor-free control, with later monitoring to day 264. Donor-free controls are single controls in the plotted main time courses. ICP-AES analysed centrifuged supernatants, not a stated membrane-filtered dissolved fraction. The separate BCR extraction used 0.5 g dried solid and sequential 0.11 M acetic acid, 0.5 M hydroxylamine hydrochloride, peroxide/ammonium acetate and aqua regia steps; the first two steps on biostimulated sediment were anaerobic. Extractant fractions are operational categories, not unique mineral species. These were laboratory bottle and extraction assays.
Newsome et al. studied composite heap samples spanning horizons: Acoje (Philippines), Çaldağ (Turkey), Shevchenko 11 (Kazakhstan), and Piauí 4 and 23 (Brazil, sampled April 2016). These are mixed natural nickel-cobalt laterites, not processing wastes or pure Mn/Fe oxide minerals. Characterization aliquots were dried at 105 degrees C and ball-milled; that preparation is not stated for the live microcosm feed. NHM biostimulation used 3 g wet laterite, 30 mL anaerobic modified freshwater minimal medium initially pH 7, and 10 mM acetate, with 80:20 N2:CO2 headspace, darkness and 30 degrees C, followed through 90 days. Piauí screening used 3 g laterite/30 mL sterile artificial groundwater with either 5 mM each acetate and lactate or 10 mM glucose. Subsequent main glucose assays used 10 g laterite/100 mL artificial groundwater and 10 mM glucose, in triplicate under the same gas/temperature/dark conditions; endpoint solids were collected at 143 days. Repeat Piauí 23 assays comprised two amended bottles and an additional donor-free control, with later monitoring to day 264. Donor-free controls are single controls in the plotted main time courses. ICP-AES analysed centrifuged supernatants, not a stated membrane-filtered dissolved fraction. The separate BCR extraction used 0.5 g dried solid and sequential 0.11 M acetic acid, 0.5 M hydroxylamine hydrochloride, peroxide/ammonium acetate and aqua regia steps; the first two steps on biostimulated sediment were anaerobic. Extractant fractions are operational categories, not unique mineral species. These were laboratory bottle and extraction assays.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
newsome2020
Sections 2.1–2.4 and 3.1–3.3, Figures 1–6 and Tables 2–3: acetate-amended NHM laterites developed reducing conditions but showed little aqueous Co, Mn or Ni release. Their sequential extractions shifted Co and Mn toward the acetic-acid-extractable fraction compared with as-supplied material and donor-free controls. In contrast, glucose-amended Piauí 4 and 23 microcosms released Co, Mn and Ni to solution relative to donor-free controls, alongside acidification and volatile-fatty-acid production. These are different feeds, media and durations; they do not isolate a universal advantage of glucose over acetate.
Support
Source:
newsome2020_supplement
Figures S2–S6 corroborate the NHM low-aqueous-release and fraction-shift results. Figures S10–S13 distinguish the preliminary donor screen, Piauí 4 main assay and repeat Piauí 23 microcosms. Fe(II) production varied between replicates: the article reports two of five Piauí 23 microcosms developed Fe(III)-reducing conditions. Figure S12 explicitly substitutes zero for an apparent ferrozine signal attributed to yellow sediment interference; its non-pH day-zero values represent artificial-groundwater composition, not measured slurry baselines. This heterogeneity is retained rather than pooling all cultures into one response.
Support
Source:
newsome2019_data_v2
In NHM laterites sequential extractions.xlsx, sheet Co A16 and B21/E21/Q7, and Piaui sequential extractions.xlsx, sheet Co A13, B16/D16/L5, the denominator is the sum of aqueous plus all sequentially extracted metal fractions. Thus the article Table 3 value of 64 +/- 3% for glucose-treated Piauí 4 cobalt describes an operational aqueous-plus-acetic-acid fraction after 143 days, not 64% of an independently closed initial-metal balance or an isolated cobalt-product yield. The workbooks label source SD terms and propagate them through fraction calculations; this is not a direct SD of replicated purified-product recovery. The Piauí sequential-extraction comparison lacks a displayed donor-free endpoint in Figure 5, Figure S13 and Table 3, despite aqueous monitoring controls.
Partial
Source:
newsome2020
Sections 2.4 and 3.4, Figures 7–9: goethite remains in XRD and the dominant Fe/Ni spectral environment changes little. Cobalt XANES shifts in Acoje, Çaldağ and Piauí are consistent with a greater Co(II) contribution; post-treatment Shevchenko cobalt was not analysed. Mn-oxide hosts were not resolved by XRD, and Co EXAFS could not be obtained. Direct microbial Co(III) reduction cannot be distinguished from indirect reduction accompanying Mn-oxide dissolution and equilibration. No pure-host-mineral selectivity, identified reductase or quantitative wet-state phase conversion is established.
Partial
Source:
newsome2020_supplement
Table S8 fits Co spectra using Co-doped MnO2 and Co-doped goethite standards; these are model components, not physically isolated phase fractions. Tables S2–S6 and Figures S7–S9/S14–S15 report community sequence similarities and inferred functions, not cultured causative organisms. The Piauí DNA observations come from the repeat experiment after extraction optimization, not the original Figure 4 triplicates. Both amended and donor-free microcosms changed community composition, and extraction efficiency and sediment heterogeneity constrain abundance interpretation.
Partial
Source:
newsome2020
Donor-free controls retain indigenous microorganisms and are not sterilized abiotic controls. A sterile donor-amended, killed-cell or chemistry-matched acid/VFA control is not described, so metabolic respiration, fermentation, ligand chemistry and indirect chemical reduction are not individually isolated. The separately bioaugmented NHM arm used washed Geobacter sulfurreducens from a local culture collection in 30 mM bicarbonate with 10 mM acetate, reported OD600 0.8, for 33 days. No strain accession or final inoculum-volume basis is given; it differs from the 90-day native-community medium and cannot identify an individual native taxon as the cause. No recovered purified product or industrial deployment was demonstrated; Section 3.6 proposes future process testing.
Partial
Source:
newsome2020_supplement
Main Table 1 labels nickel as dry-weight percent and gives 0.14–0.27%, whereas Table S1 gives 13.9–27.0 g/kg, approximately tenfold higher after unit conversion. The associated major-element XRF workbooks likewise report percent-scale nickel around 1.4–2.7%; the discrepancy is not silently corrected or used as a yield denominator. Main Figure 2 and supplemental extraction plots label NHM medium AGW, while Methods 2.1.2 calls it modified freshwater minimal medium. Main Methods call assays triplicate, but extraction plots separately label numbers of extraction replicates, including four in some NHM bars; these are not assumed to be four independent cultures. Main Figure 4 points to S10 for repeats, while the repeated Piauí 23 assay is S12.
Context_only
Source:
ncbi_geobacter_20261012
TaxID 35554 resolves to Geobacter sulfurreducens at species rank. It grounds the species name in the separate augmentation comparison only, not an authenticated strain or the unresolved indigenous communities. No organism CURIE is assigned to those communities.
Sources & References
-
usgs_laterite_model_2013: Marsh EE, Anderson ED and Gray F (2013). Nickel-Cobalt Laterites—A Deposit Model. USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5070-H; official publication summary on geological origin and mineralogical subtypes. doi:10.3133/sir20105070H.
https://www.usgs.gov/publications/nickel-cobalt-laterites-a-deposit-model (accessed 2026-10-11) -
hetz_schippers_2025: Hetz SA and Schippers A (2025). Aerobic Bioleaching of Six Brazilian Laterite Ores with Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, Sulfobacillus species and Archaea at Various Conditions. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy 11:3732-3747. doi:10.1007/s40831-025-01139-7.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-025-01139-7 (accessed 2026-10-11) -
santos_2022: Santos AL, Dybowska A, Schofield PF, Herrington RJ, Cibin G and Johnson DB (2022). Chromium (VI) Inhibition of Low pH Bioleaching of Limonitic Nickel-Cobalt Ore. Frontiers in Microbiology 12:802991, published 11 January 2022 in volume 12 (2021). doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.802991.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.802991 (accessed 2026-10-11) -
ncbi_thiooxidans: NCBI Taxonomy 930 — Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, species rank
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=930&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-11) -
newsome2020: Newsome L, Solano Arguedas A, Coker VS, Boothman C and Lloyd JR (2020; online 23 October 2019). Manganese and cobalt redox cycling in laterites; Biogeochemical and bioprocessing implications. Chemical Geology 531:119330. DOI 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2019.119330; complete published 15-page article, Figures 1–9 and Tables 1–3.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2019.119330 (accessed 2026-10-12) -
newsome2020_supplement: Newsome et al. (2020), original supplementary Word document to DOI 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2019.119330; Tables S1–S8 and Figures S1–S16. Locally rendered for inspection.
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0009254119304371-mmc1.doc (accessed 2026-10-12) -
newsome2019_data_v2: Newsome L (2019). Manganese and cobalt redox cycling in laterites; biogeochemical and bioprocessing implications. Mendeley Data v2, published 2 October 2019, DOI 10.17632/jjr63cyp35.2. Selected NHM/Piaui sequential-extraction, XRF and geochemical-monitoring workbooks; associated data for the same experiment, not independent replication.
https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/jjr63cyp35/2 (accessed 2026-10-12) -
ncbi_geobacter_20261012: NCBI Taxonomy 35554 — Geobacter sulfurreducens, species rank; live Datasets response checked 12 October 2026.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=35554&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-12)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-11T12:13:06Z |
Codex (GPT-6; codex) | record_creation | Created the geological primary-resource identity and two conditional laboratory bioleaching mechanisms from independently grounded feed context and primary methods, preserving null outcomes, chemical comparators and unresolved dosing, toxicity and causal limitations. Scientific acceptance is recorded separately by independent review. |
2026-10-12T01:21:15.841593+00:00 |
codex (GPT-6; codex) | EDIT | Added the independently sourced Newsome2020 native-community laterite assay, distinguishing acetate/glucose arms, aqueous and sequentially extractable fractions, model-based redox interpretation, nonsterile controls, source inconsistencies and unproven product recovery. Preserved all prior scientific fields and committed history. |
Record source: data/records/nickel-laterite-ore.yaml