26 www.resourceworld.com
A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 2 0
NICKEL IS A BASE METAL with many uses; from coins to sky-
scrapers it is part of our daily life, including the kitchen sink. But
not all nickel
is equal. Different types of nickel are used for differ-
ent purposes. Mark Jarvis, CEO of Giga Metals, spoke to Resource
World
about the nickel industry, nickel demand and types of
nickel.
According to Jarvis, 70% of all nickel produced is used to feed
stainless-steel mills. Most of that nickel is class 2 nickel, including
nickel pig iron, an iron nickel alloy, a type of low-grade fer-
ronickel. A small amount of class 1 or pure nickel, on average 5%
of the nickel
units, is necessary for steel making,
All other uses of nickel require class 1 nickel, including stor-
age batteries and batteries that power electric vehicles. Jarvis
explained
that class 1 nickel is nickel that can be economically
upgraded to 99.9% nickel or better.
Only about half of the world's nickel supply is suitable for
use in batteries. Much of it comes from increasingly hard to find
sulphide deposits like those found in Sudbury, Voisey's Bay and
NICKEL EXPLORATION
AND MINING
– outlook and update
by Kathrine Moore
Giga Metals team disussion at the
Turnagain Project's northwest
outcrop. Photo courtesy of Giga
Metals Corp.
