Processing of laterite ores

A method for processing nickel laterite ore, including the steps of:

• obtaining a mined laterite ore from a mining operation;
• and
• feeding the ore through a bulk sorter comprising a sensor arrangement and a diverting mechanism that separates the ore into:
• a beneficiated stream of nickel laterite ore wherein the grade of nickel in the beneficiated stream is increased by more than 10% relative to the ore fed into the bulk sorter, where the beneficiated stream comprises at least 50% by mass of the ore fed into the bulk for further processing by leaching or smelting;
• one or more low grade fractions of ore with a lower nickel grade than the beneficiated stream which are deposited into low grade stockpiles;
• and
• a waste fraction, wherein
• the sensor arrangement is configured to simultaneously measure and record the nickel and the gangue and impurity elements, including SiO2, MgO, Co and Fe, in the beneficiated stream and the low grade stockpiles and the method further comprising a step of blending the low-grade stockpiles with the beneficiated stream prior to further processing of the beneficiated stream by leaching or smelting and wherein an amount of the low-grade stockpiles and an amount of the beneficiated stream for blending are determined from the recorded measurements.