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Approximately 11% of nickel’s production goes towards electronics applications 2.
Notably, Nickel plays a critical role as a major cathode material in lithium-ion batteries, which are vital to electric vehicles, energy storage, hydro power, wind power, and photovoltaics (solar power).
“Our [Lithium-ion battery] cells should be called Nickel-Graphite, because primarily the cathode is nickel and the anode side is graphite with silicon oxide,” says Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “[There’s] a little bit of lithium in there, but it’s like the salt on the salad.” 3.
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Nickel can also be easily recycled. Currently, about 68% of all nickel from consumer products is recycled and repurposed 4.
 
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Nickel comes in two main types of ore: 6park.com
Lateritic ore: constitutes ~60% of the world’s nickel reserves 5
and is typically found in very large tonnage, low-grade deposits located close to the surface. It’s generally mined via open cut mining.
Sulfidic ore: constitutes ~40% of the world’s nickel reserves 5 and is typically found deeper underground than laterites. It’s generally extracted via underground mining.
Lateritic deposits usually contain just 1-2% nickel, so a metallurgical extraction process is used to extract the nickel from the deposit. The most common methods are:
Caron Process - reduction, roast, ammonia leach
The ore is crushed to less than 1 inch to increase the surface area
Dried to less than <3% moisture
Heated in a furnace to reduce the oxide to a metal
After it has cooled, it is sent for ammonia leaching, where metallic nickel is oxidized, dissolved, and extracted 6
PAL (or HPAL) - high-pressure sulphuric acid leach
The ore is crushed to a fine material and mixed with water until it becomes a slurry
The slurry is added to a “pressure-cooker” with acid
At the end of the process, the slurry is washed, and nickel can be separated 7
EPAL Process - enhanced pressure acid leach
Similar to the HPAL process but includes an additional atmospheric tank.
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BHP’s Nickel West mine in WA
With Sulfidic ore, a series of mechanical, chemical, and magnetic separators (some nickel-bearing sulfides are magnetic) are used to extract the nickel, followed by roasting in an oven or leaching through chemicals to further refine the final product 8.
Both Lateritic and Sulfidic-based nickel can then be further refined to produce a high-purity product.

贴主:xiaobeng于2022_11_24 13:07:09编辑