The Nome nickel laterite deposit is located in the North East of
Albania. The ore deposit, developed between ultramafic rocks and limestones during
Early Cretaceous to Eocene, represents part of the Albanian Mirdita ophiolite
zone. The lateritization of the deposit was observed mainly in three separate
areas, the Has-Kukes-Lure in the North, Pogradec-Librazhd in the center and
Devoll in the South. The main mineralogical components of the ore are goethite,
hematite and quartz, while the secondary ones are chlorite (clinochlore,
Ni-chlorite), kaolinite and lizardite. Nickel is mainly found in chlorite. The
ore is characterized by the presence of spheroid particles, such as oval, pisoid,
peloid and composite spheroid. According to the microscopical examination the
ore is characterized in general as allotriomorphic, inequigranular and the
texture is oolitic-pisolitic. For the mineral processing gravimetric and
magnetic separation are used in the size fractions -8 + 4 mm, -4 + 1 mm, -1 + 0.250 mm and -0.250 + 0.063 mm. The chemical and mineralogical
analyses, as well as the microscopic examination have shown that mineral
processing by magnetic separation gives the most satisfactory results for the
size fractions -1 + 0.250 mm and -0.250 + 0.063 mm.