Malachite Consulting has undertaken testwork and engineering studies for the direct reduction of nickel laterites, followed by hydrometallurgical processing, in order to produce high value products for sale, such as battery grade nickel and cobalt sulphates.

The process is more efficient than the Caron process, less energy intensive than smelting processes and typically has lower capital costs than hydrometallurgical processing of nickel laterites using HPAL, Atmospheric Leaching, nitric acid leaching etc.