DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in CHINA on 7/29/2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the 202210906191.2 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation “the ore slurry has a solid content of 10% to 25%,” which renders the claim indefinite due to the lack of units. It is unclear if the percentages recited are mass/weight% or volume%, which renders the metes and bounds of the claim indefinite.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 3-10 are allowed.
Claim 2 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, the prior art fails to disclose or fairly suggest the method for producing ferronickel and removing chromium from nickel laterite ore as recited. In particular, the closest prior art, Wang et al. (CN 101139642), hereinafter “Wang,” wherein an English machine translation is used and cited herein, teaches a refining method for crude ferronickel produced from laterite nickel ore, wherein the refining process comprises: adding sodium carbonate or calcium carbonate to rotating molten crude ferronickel, and subjecting it to a rapid reaction, in order to form and remove sulfur slag, and after removal of the slag, adding a quartz fluxing agent and calcium oxide thereto, blowing oxygen or oxygen-enriched air, and removing phosphorous, silicon, chromium, and carbon impurities and forming slag to obtain refined ferronickel (Abstract, [0007]-[0027]). However, Wang does not teach or adequately suggest wherein the laterite nickel ore is subjected to ore washing to obtain an ore slurry, wherein an alkali liquor and bromate are added to the ore slurry, and introducing oxygen to the ore slurry to allow oxidation leaching, as required by claim 1. Thus, claim 1 is distinct over the teachings of the prior art. Claims 2-10 further limit the subject matter of claim 1 and are thus also distinct over the teachings of the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY M LIANG whose telephone number is (571)272-0483. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00am-5:00pm.
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/ANTHONY M LIANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734