Where Has All the Nickel Gone?

Nickel is often called “the hidden metal” as it only rarely is seen by the public in the pure form. While the amounts of nickel used in batteries has increased substantially over the past ten years, the first use of primary nickel in stainless steel still dominates. First use data from 2023 will be presented along with changes from previous years. Metallic scrap is an increasing source of nickel for alloy producers, an estimated 95% of stainless steel is recycled at end-of-life, but growth in nickel-containing stainless steel use has continued to mean that there is insufficient scrap to meet the demand. With the recycling of nickel-containing lithium ion batteries coming onstream, this will become another increasingly important source of nickel. The end use of nickel-containing materials such as stainless steel and nickel alloys will be discussed, along with some future opportunities.