Ann: Nickel Discovery at East Laverton, page-35

Some information on Laterites.

Most nickel laterites are uneconomical to mine.

Around 70 per cent of the world's nickel reserves are found in the form of laterites, which are soils rich in mineral ores.

Many of these reserves remain untapped due to the complexities of extraction from laterites.

Australia has abundant nickel laterite reserves but until now extraction of nickel from these laterites has been challenging, and expensive, resulting in the generation of large amounts of waste chemicals.

Traditional nickel laterite processing techniques use large quantities of sulphuric acid at high temperatures and pressures, resulting in expensive waste treatment and disposal of the chemicals used in the extraction process.