Abstract
The world production of nickel at 2.36 million tonnes in 2019 ranks fifth in the output of non-ferrous metals after aluminum, copper, zinc and lead. Nickel is produced from both sulphide ores—representing ~30% of world nickel production—and oxide ores—representing ~70% of world nickel production, with nickel now a vital component in batteries which will power much of the new electric transportation age. The top ten nickel smelter producing countries (2019) include in order: China, Indonesia, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Caledonia, Brazil, Finland, Philippines and Japan. The present paper takes the reader on a virtual tour of most of the nickel sulphide and nickel laterite plants throughout the world with a focus on smelter facilities. Operations and technology employed at each plant visited on the virtual tour are discussed including a brief historical sketch. Future trends identified during the world tour are also discussed with respect to technology and products. The present authors considered that enough time was required for a thorough study tour and settled on eighty days—the same as that for the celebrated fictional story of world circumnavigation in the 1870s—a time when nickel was in its infancy and considered a rare metal.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge Wood Mackenzie Ltd., London for kindly providing and allowing the use of much of the statistical data used in this paper.
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Vahed, A., Mackey, P.J., Warner, A.E.M. (2021). “Around the Nickel World in Eighty Days”: A Virtual Tour of World Nickel Sulphide and Laterite Operations and Technologies. In: Anderson, C., et al. Ni-Co 2021: The 5th International Symposium on Nickel and Cobalt. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65647-8_1
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