Nickel, which has frequently hit the headlines — what is it really about?
"Who could have imagined that a tiny metal could roil global capital markets! Nickel has been trending online constantly lately. Where does it come from? Why do its price swings send ripples across countless industries? Today, let’s uncover the core secrets of the nickel industry, starting right from the mine source!"
As a strategically critical metal, nickel features exceptional mechanical strength, high-temperature resistance and chemical stability. It serves as a core raw material for stainless steel production and new-energy batteries, earning it the nickname "the vitamin of industry". Nickel ranks fifth in terms of reserves on Earth. The Earth’s core holds natural nickel-iron alloys, yet the commercially viable deposits we exploit fall mainly into two categories: copper-nickel sulfide ore and lateritic nickel ore. The mineral processing techniques vary drastically between these ore types. For copper-nickel sulfide ore, flotation is the mainstream process, supplemented by magnetic separation and gravity separation. Lateritic nickel ore, by contrast, requires more complex hydrometallurgical or pyrometallurgical smelting. Regardless of the process, mining and crushing always come first. Run-of-mine ore can be over a meter in particle size. Without efficient crushing and liberation, subsequent mineral processing cannot proceed at all!
From blasting in open-pit mines, through the three-stage crushing process of primary, secondary and fine crushing, to grinding for mineral liberation, every step directly affects the final mineral recovery rate. Proper selection of processes and equipment can cut costs and boost efficiency for nickel ore beneficiation from the very source.
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