Nickel

Although there are numerous nickel minerals, only few are important as an economically worthwhile commodity. In this context pentlandite and garnierite must be mentioned. Regarding the deposits, there is a need to differentiate between magmatic (sulphide) (Canada, Russia, Australia) and lateritic (oxidic) weathering ores (New Caledonia, Indonesia, Cuba). Oxidic ores are more frequent than sulphide ores, but the latter ones are mined in larger quantities because of the lower energy requirements for processing and smelting. Furthermore, they contain valuable by-products (e. g. Cu, Co, Pt metals).

Russia and Canada have a leading position among the ore mining countries. Mining operations also exists e. g. in China, the Dominican Republic and South Africa.

The most important field of application of nickel is the stainless-steel industry which represents more than half of nickel’s annual consumption. Nickel is also used for corrosion protection of various materials by nickel-plating. In the chemical industry, nickel is being used as a catalyst for example in the petroleum industry. Due to its usability in modern battery-systems nickel gained more and more importance for the transformation of the automotive industry into the direction of electromobility.

We must distinguish between two important grades: class I, i. e. primary nickel with 99.0 - 99.9 % Ni, and class II which, e. g., includes ferronickel with 20 - 60 % Ni and nickel oxide.

The most common form of electrolytic nickel (min. 99.8 % Ni) is cut cathodes.