Metal Mobility in Embryonic-to-Proto-Ni-Laterite Profiles from Non-Tropical Climates González Jiménez, José María Marchesi, Claudio Cartwright, David Monasterio Guillot, Luis Gervilla Linares, Fernando PGE REE Sc Co Ni-rich serpentinite Mn-oxyhydroxides Laterite We evaluated the mobility of a wide suite of economic metals (Ni, Co, REE, Sc, PGE) in Ni-laterites with different maturities, developed in the unconventional humid/hyper-humid Mediterranean climate. An embryonic Ni-laterite was identified at Los Reales in southern Spain, where a saprolite profile of ~1.5mthick was formed at the expense of peridotites of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle. In contrast, a more mature laterite was reported from Camán in south-central Chile, where the thicker (~7 m) weathering profile contains well-developed lower and upper oxide horizons. This comparative study reveals that both embryonic and mature laterites can form outside the typical (sub)-tropical climate conditions expected for lateritic soils, while demonstrating a similar chemical evolution in terms of major (MgO, Fe2O3, and Al2O3), minor (Ni, Mn, Co, Ti, Cr), and trace (REE, Y, Sc, PGE, Au) element concentrations. We show that, even in the earliest stages of laterization, the metal remobilization from primary minerals can already result in uneconomic concentration values. 2023-09-05T08:22:49Z 2023-09-05T08:22:49Z 2023-06 journal article González-Jiménez, J.M.; Villanova-de-Benavent, C.; Yesares, L.; Marchesi, C.; Cartwright, D.; Proenza, J.A.; Monasterio-Guillot, L.; Gervilla, F. Metal Mobility in Embryonic-to-Proto-Ni-Laterite Profiles from Non-Tropical Climates. Minerals 2023, 13, 844. [https://doi.org/10.3390/min13070844] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/84245 10.3390/min13070844 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI