A nickel mine is a mine that produces nickel . Some mines produce nickel primarily, while some mines produce nickel as a side-product of some other metal that has a higher concentration in the ore.
23-494: The Windarra Nickel Mine was a surface and underground nickel mine near Laverton, Western Australia . The deposit was discovered in 1969 with the mine opened in 1974 by WMC Resources . Mining cased in 1991. Mining was carried out at two locations, South Windarra, 16 km west of Laverton, and Mount Windarra, 22 km north-west of Laverton. The process plant for the ore was located at Mount Windarra but has since been dismantled. The discovery of nickel at Windarra triggered
46-597: A potential carcinogen in mammalian cells. In the 2000s, a nickel boom began centered around Claver, Surigao del Norte in the Philippines ; in 2017, the government of the Philippines (then the world's largest exporter of nickel ore) engaged in a crackdown against mine operators accused of violating environmental laws; the government closed the operations of 28 of the Philippine's 41 mining companies. In 2020,
69-436: Is pentlandite (Ni 9 S 8 ) although many other nickel sulfides are known. Furthermore, nickel is often a constituent of iron sulfides such as pyrrhotite . The principal (i.e. economically most important) nickel oxides are nickeliferous limonite ((Fe 1−x Ni x )O(OH)·nH 2 O). Pentlandite supplies an estimated 65% of the world's nickel but nickel laterites constitute the largest reserves. Nickel content of its ores
92-593: Is a long history of toxic emission problems at such operations around the world. Exploratory drilling near Tamarack occurred in 2022. List of heritage places in the Shire of Laverton Download coordinates as: The State Register of Heritage Places is maintained by the Heritage Council of Western Australia . As of 2023 , 38 places are heritage-listed in the Shire of Laverton , of which two are on
115-455: Is often only a few percent by weight. Sulfide ores are subjected to comminution followed by froth flotation . Pentlandite and related minerals separate with sulfides of copper, cobalt, and iron. Two hydrometallurgical methods have been developed to extract nickel and cobalt from nickel laterites, these processes are called sulphuric acid leaching and reduction roast-ammonia leaching. For high-magnesium silicates in lower profiles laterites
138-454: The 1969–70 Poseidon bubble . The Windarra nickel deposit was discovered in April 1969 and a high-grade nickel deposit was subsequently confirmed through drilling and announced to the stock market by Poseidon Limited. Poseidon's shares rose dramatically on this announcement, from below one Australian dollar to a height of A$ 280 per share. Poseidon however found it difficult to finance and develop
161-464: The Philippines became the world's largest producer of nickel ore, after Indonesia halted nickel ore exports; both countries had extensively supplied China, the world's largest purchaser of nickel ore. The two largest Philippine nickel companies are Nickel Asia Corp. and Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc.; both operate in the Surigao del Norte region. Nickel mines in the Philippines, while beneficial to
184-491: The Windarra mines had been treated. The plant, until 1994, continued to process ore from Leinster and Lancefield and was removed in the following year. Throughout its operation, the two Windarra mining locations produced 8,088,000 tonnes of ore at a grade of 1.16 percent nickel, producing 93,446 tonnes of nickel. The concentrated nickel from Windarra had been treated at WMC's Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter . In 2005, WMC Resources
207-523: The area, at South Windarra, was made by an American consortium, which entered in an agreement with Poseidon to develop the two projects jointly. In October 1972, the chairman of Poseidon announced that the joint project had been abandoned. Instead, in December 1972, WMC acquired a 50 percent interest in the project for approximately $ 25 million. Poseidon would manage the project under the new ownership agreement with WMC providing assistance with some aspects of
230-581: The battery industry; and the remainder went to other applications. By 2023, approximately 65% of primary nickel usage went to stainless steel and 15% to the battery industry . A study was conducted by scientists Dan et al on the effects of Nickel smelting fumes, to do this they did the study on NIH/3T3 cells and in the lung tissue of rats. They found that the fumes that the NIH/3T3 cells were transforming into malignant cells meaning that high exposure to Ni-smelting fumes may be harmful as Ni-smelting fumes may be
253-631: The economy, have been harmful to both human health and well-being as well as to the environment. One example of this is in the Mindoro Oriental region , where nickel mines have left behind toxic mine tailings. This has polluted the water, which is necessary for both humans to drink as well as for them to use for agricultural practices. The nickel mines have also destroyed lands that indigenous tribes have lived on for generations. From 1953 to 1958 Nickel Rim mines operating around Sudbury, Ontario deposited their mine tailings in an impoundment near
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#1732801155923276-611: The exploitation method used is smelting. According to the intergovernmental International Nickel Study Group, in 2017 the countries with the largest volume of nickel ore reserves are Australia (19.5 million metric tons), Brazil (10.5 million metric tons), Russia (7.5 million metric tons), New Caledonia (6.5 million metric tons), Cuba (5.5 million metric tons), and the Philippines (just under 5 million metric tons). As of 2017, 33 countries produced nickel ore. Nickel production increased from 2000 to 2013 (when it peaked), decreased from 2014 to 2016, and recovered from 2017 to 2018. As of 2017,
299-652: The impoundment is going to discharge water with high concentrations of iron and sulphate for at least the next 50 years. A study found that the Mount Keith Nickel Mine which is an open pit mine in Western Australia is sequestering and storing large amounts of carbon dioxide through enhanced weathering of mineral waste, this means that this mine is offsetting approximately 11% of the annual greenhouse gas emissions released by this mine. Nickel , copper as well as cobalt deposits became
322-583: The increased domestic demand for electric vehicles . In 2020, highly valuable nickel, copper and cobalt occurrences were discovered near Tamarack , Minnesota . Environmental groups have expressed concerns over the potential pollution of the Kettle River headwaters, and the Mississippi watershed . The Environmental Protection Agency considers hardrock mining the top polluting industry in the US, and there
345-601: The largest nickel mine operators are (in descending order of kilotonnes mined): Other large nickel producers include Jinchuan Group Ltd., the largest nickel producer in China, and Sherritt , a Canadian company from Canada that refines nickel from lateritic ores and has operations in Canada, Cuba, Indonesia and Madagascar. According to the intergovernmental International Nickel Study Group, as of 2017, an estimated 75% of primary nickel usage went to stainless steel ; 3.7% went to
368-405: The mine. The water in the impoundment was later tested and found to have low pH and high concentrations of iron , sulphur and dissolved metals such as aluminum and nickel. This is due to the oxidation of the tailings (usually sulfide minerals like pyrrhotite ). The limited oxygen diffusing into the layers causes the tailings to oxidize over a longer period of time, for this reason the water at
391-452: The most sought-after mineral exploration sites worldwide by private companies and national governments, when nickel prices more than doubled from 2017 to 2021. In the US, the only lucrative nickel mine in Riddle, Oregon ceased operation in 1987 due to pollution concerns, but some sites are now actively re-explored as the federal government considers these deposits of strategic importance due to
414-829: The nickel from site and led to the company's financial position deteriorating. Eventually, in June 1975, WMC took over the management of the project. Poseidon entered receivership in September 1976, unable to meet its loan repayments. Its 50 percent interest in Windarra was sold to the Shell in August 1977 for $ 31 million, which was $ 2 million short of what the company owed the Australian Industries Development Commission in project finance for Windarra. Poseidon did survive its time in receivership and
437-724: The project, for $ 500,000 per annum for the next 10 years and a production royalty. In May 1990, the Mount Windarra mine was closed as all economically accessible ore had been extracted. South Windarra continued to be mined on a small scale and the process plant was primarily used to extract gold from the Lancefield mine. Additionally, the plant also treated some ore from the Leinster Nickel Mine . Mining at South Windarra stopped in July 1991 and, by August, all ore from
460-544: The project. The cost to develop the project and associated infrastructure, including roads and a rail link to Kalgoorlie, proved higher than expected at $ 56 million. Poseidon attempted to finance this exclusively through loans. Originally, the concentrator was to be designed to process 700,000 tonnes of ore per year but this was subsequently upgrade to one million tonnes to make the project more financially viable. Nickel production at Windarra commenced in September 1974. A subsequent flood however prevented Poseidon from transporting
483-491: The project. It purchased two smaller mining companies and thereby acquired a process plant and work force in Kalgoorlie but found it impractical to transport the ore from Laverton to there. Apart from the transportation issue, Poseidon also faced a falling nickel price during 1970, a less than expected grade and amount of nickel deposit at Windarra and increasing difficulties in securing finance. A second nickel discovery in
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#1732801155923506-521: Was acquired by BHP , which bundled WMC's nickel assets under its Nickel West brand. In December 2005, Niagara Mining Limited purchased the inactive Windarra Nickel Project from BHP. Niagara Mining Limited was renamed to Poseidon Nickel Company in July 2007. The state heritage-listed Windarra Heritage Trail was established from 1996 and opened in 1998, commemorating the history of the mine. Nickel mine Nickel occurs in two general types of ores, sulfides and oxides. The most important sulfide ore
529-589: Was relisted on the stock exchange in December 1978. Poseidon eventually merged with Normandy Resources in 1991, with Poseidon being delisted on 8 May 1991 and the name company taking the name of Normandy Poseidon Limited. WMC was forced to suspend mining at Windarra in 1978 because of low nickel but resumed in May 1981. From 1980, the facilities of the operation were used for the Lancefield Gold Mine. In May 1983, WMC acquired Shell's 50 percent interest in
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