With the continuously increasing demand for ferronickel alloy, the smelting of nickel laterite resources for the production of ferronickel has attracted considerable attention in the past decade. Owing to the advantages of good operational flexibility, high productivity, and high quality of the crude ferronickel product, the rotary kiln-electric furnace (RKEF) process has undergone rapid development around the world and become a major ferronickel smelting technology. 1 However, the RKEF process also suffers from a few shortcomings, particularly high energy consumption and a huge discharge of slag.