Nickel world reserves

Deposits. Selenium forms natural compounds with 16 other elements. It is a main constituent of 39 mineral species and a minor component of 37 others, chiefly sulfides. The minerals are finely disseminated and do not form a selenium ore. Because there are no deposits that can be worked for selenium recovery alone, there are no mine reserves. Nevertheless, the 1995 world reserves, chiefly in nonferrous metals sulfide deposits, are ca 70,000 metric tons and total resources are ca 130,000 t (24). The principal resources of the world are in the base metal sulfide deposits that are mined primarily for copper, zinc, nickel, and silver, and to a lesser extent, lead and mercury, where selenium recovery is secondary. 

The world reserves of nickel are estimated at 60 million tonnes [30.2J, of which Australia provides 35%. The reserve base, including known deposits, which can be mined at some future time, is 160 million tonnes with 15% each in Aushaha and Cuba and 10% each in Canada and New Caledonia. 

Canada, Cuba, and Russia have the largest economic reserves, whereas the United States has less than 0.1% of the world s estimated reserves. Russia produced about 25%, Canada 22%, and New Caledonia 12% of the world s nickel in 1992. The United States produced less than 1% of the world s nickel in the same year. The net import rehance of the United States as a percent of apparent consumption remained about 75% over the period 1987—1992. 

The world economic (proven) nickel reserves are estimated at 47.0 x 10 t. At the 1992 world rate of mine production, these reserves would be expected to last at least until the year 2050. If, however, annual mine production increases at a rate that reflects a predicted increase in the world primary nickel consumption of 2% annually, these reserves would be depleted before 2030 (6,8,9). 

More than 200 ores are known to contain cobalt but only a few are of commercial value. The more important are arsenides and sulfides such as smaltite, C0AS2, cobaltite (or cobalt glance), CoAsS, and linnaeite, C03S4. These are invariably associated with nickel, and often also with copper and lead, and it is usually obtained as a byproduct or coproduct in the recovery of these metals. The world s major sources of cobalt are the African continent and Canada with smaller reserves in Australia and the former USSR. All the platinum metals are generally associated with each other and rhodium and iridium therefore occur wherever the other platinum metals are found. However, the relative proportions of the individual metals are by no means constant and the more important sources of rhodium are the nickel-copper-sulfide ores found in South Africa and in Sudbury, Canada, which contain about 0.1% Rh. Iridium is usually obtained from native osmiridium (Ir 50%) or iridiosmium (Ir 70%) found chiefiy in Alaska as well as South Africa. 

Valuable mineral deposits which form by residual concentration pertain to iron, manganese, aluminum, nickel, clays, tin and gold. Aluminum comes almost exclusively from residual concentrations of bauxite, which result from the laterihsation of alumina rich igneous rocks like syenites under tropical and subtropical climatic conditions. Laterites also contribute nearly 80% of the world s reserves of nickel at grades better than 1% Ni. They form by residual concentrations as a result of weathering of mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks, which are relatively enriched in nickel. 

More than 90% of the world s nickel is obtained from pentlandite ((FeNi)9S8), a nickel-sulfitic mineral, mined underground in Canada and the former Soviet Union (Sevin 1980 IARC 1976 WHO 1991). One of the largest sulfitic nickel deposits is in Sudbury, Ontario (USPHS 1993). Nickeliferous sulfide deposits are also found in Manitoba, South Africa, the former Soviet Union, Finland, western Australia, and Minnesota (Norseth and Piscator 1979 USPHS 1993). Most of the rest of the nickel obtained is from nickel minerals such as laterite, a nickel oxide ore mined by open pit techniques in Australia, Cuba, Indonesia, New Caledonia, and the former Soviet Union (Sevin 1980). Lateritic ores are less well defined than sulfitic ores, although the nickel content (1 to 3%) of both ores is similar (USPHS 1993). Important deposits of laterite are located in New Caledonia, Indonesia, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Brazil, and especially Cuba, which holds 35% of the known reserves (USPHS 1993). Nickel-rich nodules are found on the ocean floor, and nickel is also present in fossil fuels (Sevin 1980). 

As the world s known crude oil reserves diminish, we are confronted with the prospect of treating progressively less desirable crude oils. These materials contain high levels (typically several percent) of organic sulfur and nitrogen, as well as organically complexed vanadium and nickel at the level of... 

Palladium occurs in combination with platinum and is the second most abundant platinum group metal (pgm), accounting for 38% of pgm reserves. The USSR produces over 50% of the world s palladium, which is more than double that produced in South Africa. Two major sources of the metal are braggite, a mixed sulfide of platinum, palladium and nickel, which contains 16-20% palladium, and michenerite (PdBi3). 

PGM deposits vary in their composition and often contain more of either Pt or Pd. The most significant locations are found in South Africa and Russia, but Canada, the USA and Zimbabwe also provide small yet reasonable amounts. With about 80% of the annual output of Pt and almost half of the Pd-output, South Africa is the dominant producer. Indeed, South Africa accounts for nearly 90% of the world s reserve of PGM. The other major producer is Russia, but as the sale of PGM by that country is of strategic concern to its government, this source has been quite erratic in the past. Canada is the third largest producer, with about 4% of the annual total production basically as a by-product of nickel production in the Sudbury complex (Hilliard 2000 Campell... 

Cobalt reserves (known ore bodies that may be worked) in the world are estimated to 3.2 milKon tonnes (cobalt content) [30.4]. An estimate of the reserve base (known ore bodies that may be worked at some future time) gave 10 million tonnes, of which the DRC accounts for 25%. Most of this large reserve base is in nickel-bearing laterite deposits and in sedimentary copper deposits of DRC and Zambia. In addition millions of tonnes of speculative cobalt resources exist in manganese nodules on the ocean floor. 

The reserves in the Norilsk area, more than 900 million tonnes of ore, are situated in the Siberian tundra zone with permanent ground frost The Norilsk-Nikel combine, the biggest nickel producer in the world, is also the owner of the mines in Pechenga-Monchegorsk on the Kola Peninsula. 

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