laterites - ALTA Metallurgical Services

PAL PROCESS• The process is also not new. The first plant was commissionedby Freeport at Moa Nay, Cuba, in 1959. It was also taken overby the Cuban Government in 1960 and remains in operationtoday.• The next major action was not until the development of theAMAX and Nical Processes in the 1970s and 1980s for theProny Project in New Caledonia and the Gasquet Project inNorthern California respectively. Neither reachedcommercialization due mainly to low nickel price.• In fact there were no further commercial PAL operations tillthe 1990s when three plants were built in Western Australia,namely Bulong, Cawse & Murrin Murrin (Bulong and Cawseare now closed).9