Nickel

It is often added to other metals to make alloys that are stronger, rust resistant and better able to withstand intense temperatures, both hot and cold. Nickel is malleable and can be formed into wires and flat sheets. When added to iron, nickel forms stainless steel. Like iron, nickel is also magnetic, though not as magnetic as iron.

Nickel’s name reveals its long standing reputation for being difficult to mine and refine. It comes from two German words, nickel and kupfernickel. Nickel is the name for the mythological character Old Nick, a German name for the devil. Its other name means "Old Nick's copper" or “Devil’s Copper” because miners in the 1400s thought it looked like copper, and was a devil to mine. It was first classified as an element in 1751 by the Swedish chemist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, after first being mistaken for a copper mineral.

Nickel was discovered in Australia in 1897, but it was another 60 years before it was found in large enough quantities to be mined. The first mine was built in Kambalda, 50 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
Australia is now the fourth largest nickel producer in the world, after Russia, Indonesia and Canada. Australia produces around 170,000 tonnes of nickel yearly, earning about $3.2 billion each year in exports. Australian production is close behind Canada’s output of 180,000 tonnes each year and Indonesia’s 190,000 tones, however Russia far outstrips the rest of the world with 270,000 tonnes worth of yearly nickel production. Western Australia holds around 90% of all Australia’s nickel resources, with the rest coming from NSW, Queensland and just 1% from Tasmania.

Nickel is originally found as ore deposits in the earth, combined as either a sulphide or laterite ore. Laterite is a kind of soil that is rich in iron and aluminium, which is formed underground in warm and wet tropical places. The first historical use of laterite was to make bricks, as the laterite was simply cut into brick shapes to use in building. The other nickel ore, sulphide nickel ore is a mixture of sulphur with nickel and other rock and mineral elements. Before nickel is in a pure enough form to be useful, it has to be extracted from its ore formation.

Most of the nickel produced today comes from sulphide deposits, because these are easier to mine and process than lateritic nickel ore. The mining process depends on what kind of ore the nickel is found in. Sulphide nickel deposits are found hundreds of metres below the earth’s surface, and so retrieving the ore requires serious mining infrastructure. However, once it has been mined it can be separated using a simple method called froth floatation, where the nickel ore is crushed and ground, then put in liquid and chemicals that make the nickel float to the top while the unwanted material sinks.

Laterite nickel deposits lie closer to the surface, so are easier to find, however the refinement technique is more complicated, as the surrounding rock must be dissolved before the nickel can be extracted. This is mostly done using heat, as the nickel can withstand temperatures that will destroy all the surrounding matter.
Around 73% of the world's nickel resources are in the form of laterite ore, while the rest are in sulphide. While laterite forms are mostly found in tropical areas, Australia has both kinds of nickel deposits.

Interestingly, Australia actually has the world’s largest quantity of nickel deposits, estimated at around 35% of the world’s nickel resources. This means our nickel production has great potential to increase as we develop better methods to extract the nickel from the difficult laterite deposits.

Nickel is used in a great number of ways, from coinage and cutlery to batteries and armour. As we have discovered more about nickel over the years, its uses have grown. Initially it was used in silver coinage, until it was replaced with less valuable. There is still some nickel used in Australian coins – our ‘gold’ $1 and $2 coins contain 2% nickel (with 92% copper and 6% aluminium), while our and our ‘silver’ coins contain 25% nickel and 75% copper.

Over 80% of all the nickel produced is mixed with other mentals to make alloy. Thousands of different alloys have been created using nickel, tailored for specific purposes to suit the needs of industries such as construction, cars, household products, scientific and medical equipment, engines and pipelines.

The remaining percentage of nickel is used in rechargeable batteries for small electrical devices like mobile phones, calculators and clocks. It is also used for coating surfaces to protect against tarnishing, and can even play a part in producing soap and margarine, as it helps to convert natural oils into solids. It also appears in jewellery as well as artificial joints such as hips and knees. And as more nickel is produced within Australia, we will no doubt discover more uses for this great resource.