Research Paper by Richard Schodde & Pietro Guj, published in the Journal of Geosystems and Geoenvironment, 20th January 2025
Nickel supply mainly comes from three sources: magmatic Ni sulfide ore, Ni laterites (limonitic and saprolitic), and recycled stainless steel scrap. Ni sulfide ore has traditionally been used for high-purity Class 1 products, whereas Ni laterites are processed into lower-purity Class 2 products like ferronickel. Historically, processing Ni laterites through high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) was challenging and costly.
However, Indonesia, rich in Ni laterites, imposed a ban in 2014 on raw Ni ore exports to encourage domestic processing. China’s significant investments and innovative improvements in HPAL technology have since made Ni laterite processing efficient and competitive, impacting global Ni sulfide production. Yet, environmental and sustainability concerns about laterite mining are growing in Indonesia.
The Paper discusses global Ni resource distribution and their ability to meet increasing demand driven by clean energy transitions. Over the last decade (2015 – 2024) the World mined 26 Mt of nickel (of which 20 Mt was recovered as metal). Of significance is the fact that the World’s current reported MI&I Resource grew by 142 Mt Ni over the same period. It now sits at 384 Mt Ni – which is sufficient to meet 110 years of current demand, or 60 years at the 2040 peak demand rate. In short, the World has plenty of nickel (laterite) ore to meet its short to medium needs. Notwithstanding this, in the supply pressure is expected in the (very) long term. Possible strategies to meet these challenges include reducing Ni usage intensity, developing substitutes, and advancing recycling technologies to achieve circularity and sustainability.