List of the largest nickel producers

The largest producers of nickel ore (2005)

The list of the largest nickel producers shows tables and graphics with information on the topic of nickel .

overview

In 2018, Indonesia (606,000 tonnes), the Philippines (345,000 tonnes), Russia (272,000 tonnes), New Caledonia (216,000 tonnes), Canada (176,000 tonnes) and Australia (170,000 tonnes) were the world's most important mining nations of nickel, their share of the worldwide mined 2.4 million tons amounted to 74.4 percent. Major producers of nickel ore in Europe are Greece, Macedonia, Ukraine, Spain and Finland.

Eligible reserves were estimated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in January 2020 at 89 million tons worldwide. Of this, Indonesia accounted for 21 million tons, Australia 20 million tons, Brazil 11 million tons, Russia 6.9 million tons ( Norilsk and Kola Peninsula ) and Cuba 5.5 million tons. These five states together had a share of 72.3 percent of the world's reserves. The static range of the reserves is around 37 years.

The majority of nickel production is obtained from ores containing nickel, especially nickel magnetic gravel , which contains chalcopyrite CuFeS ₂ , pentlandite (Ni, Fe) ₉ S ₈ and traces of precious metals . In order to be able to mine nickel economically, the nickel content of the ore must be at least 0.5%. A frequent companion of nickel is cobalt .

Reserves

The United States Geological Survey distinguishes between the following two categories:

• The reserve base is that portion of an identified resource that meets the specific minimum physical and chemical criteria for current mining and production practices, including grade , quality , thickness and depth . The publication of data on the stock base was stopped by the USGS in 2009.
• The reserves are that part of the supply base that could be economically extracted or produced at a given time. The term does not have to mean that extraction systems are installed and working. Reserves only contain exploitable substances.

The reserves of the countries with the greatest production are listed here.

Figures in tons (2018)

rank	country	advancement	Reserves
1.	Indonesia	606,000	21,000,000
2.	Australia	170,000	20,000,000
3.	Brazil	74,400	11,000,000
4th	Russia	272,000	6,900,000
5.	Cuba	51,000	5,500,000
6th	Philippines	345,000	4,800,000
7th	People's Republic of China	110,000	2,800,000
8th.	Canada	176,000	2,600,000
9.	United States	17,600	110,000
10.	New Caledonia	216,000	k. A.
	Other countries	366,000	14,000,000
	world	4,100,000	89,000,000

advancement

By country

The following table contains all countries whose annual production in 2018 was over 10,000 tons. The nickel content of ores and concentrates is given. All figures relate to the states within their current borders.

Figures in tons

rank	country	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2016	2017	2018
1.	Indonesia	10,800	40,600	68,583	98,200	305.200	126.160	216.992	508,580
2.	Philippines	103	47.114	15,818	20,200	184,330	300.506	339.377	344,915
3.	Russia	108,000	140,000	274,000	266,000	270,000	223,000	221,000	218,000
4th	New Caledonia	138,500	86,592	85,047	126.041	131,309	204.207	215,382	216.225
5.	Canada	277.491	184,802	196.225	190.793	160.063	235.034	214.302	180.399
6th	Australia	29,800	74,323	70,000	165,700	168,475	203.135	185.466	148,468
7th	People's Republic of China	0	11,000	27,300	50,300	79,800	100.219	94,381	98,963
8th.	Brazil	2,990	5,838	24,054	45,317	54,100	78,626	68,803	74,400
9.	Guatemala	0	6,744	0	0	0	36,939	54,517	65,710
10.	Cuba	36,775	38.207	39,292	68,100	65,400	51,600	52,900	52,800
11.	Finland	5,261	6,550	10,812	4,300	12,100	20,654	34,641	43,572
12.	South Africa	11,557	25,700	28,200	36,614	39,960	48.994	48,383	43,236
13.	Colombia	0	0	23,100	58,927	49,433	37.091	40,606	43,055
14th	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0	0	0	22,269	34,666	35,355
15th	Madagascar	0	0	0	0	0	42.105	35,474	33.183
16.	Dominican Republic	0	16,350	42,148	39,943	0	9,913	15,632	19,214
17th	Myanmar	34	14th	100	0	0	22,562	21,828	18,100
18th	Turkey	0	0	0	0	2,539	9,337	14,770	18,000
19th	Greece	8,600	13,900	15,728	23,365	16,100	21,800	19,100	17,900
20th	Zimbabwe	0	15,075	11,442	5,968	6.133	17,743	16,617	17,850
21st	United States	14,454	13,293	330	0	0	23,417	21.302	17,573

World funding

The following table shows the world production of nickel in thousands of tons.

Figures in thousands of tons

year Prod. 1900 9 1901 11 1902 12 1903 10 1904 11 1905 16 1906 16 1907 16 1908 15th 1909 17th 1910 23 1911 25th 1912 28 1913 32 1914 30th

year Prod. 1915 39 1916 46 1917 46 1918 48 1919 23 1920 36 1921 10 1922 12 1923 31 1924 35 1925 37 1926 34 1927 35 1928 50 1929 56

year Prod. 1930 54 1931 36 1932 22nd 1933 46 1934 72 1935 77 1936 93 1937 120 1938 115 1939 122 1940 140 1941 162 1942 158 1943 167 1944 157

year Prod. 1945 145 1946 123 1947 140 1948 151 1949 146 1950 145 1951 132 1952 146 1953 198 1954 216 1955 239 1956 259 1957 286 1958 224 1959 285

year Prod. 1960 320 1961 361 1962 357 1963 339 1964 371 1965 425 1966 412 1967 449 1968 497 1969 487 1970 628 1971 637 1972 611 1973 710 1974 770

year Prod. 1975 802 1976 792 1977 828 1978 658 1979 686 1980 779 1981 726 1982 621 1983 673 1984 773 1985 813 1986 852 1987 891 1988 952 1989 987

year Prod. 1990 974 1991 1.010 1992 1.010 1993 928 1994 932 1995 1,040 1996 1,060 1997 1,140 1998 1,180 1999 1,170 2000 1,290 2001 1,350 2002 1,350 2003 1,330 2004 1,360

year Prod. 2005 1,460 2006 1,570 2007 1,740 2008 1,610 2009 1,450 2010 1,710 2011 1,960 2012 2,220 2013 2,490 2014 2,450 2015 2,530 2016 2,090 2017 2,100 2018 2,400 2019 e 2,700

Metallurgical production

By country

All figures relate to the states within their current borders.

Figures in tons

Rank (2018)	country	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2016	2017	2018
1.	People's Republic of China	0	11,000	27,500	50,900	332,300	573,400	670,000	705,000
2.	Indonesia	0	4,421	5,000	10.111	18,688	117,000	205,000	290,000
3.	Russia	106,700	161,700	270,000	221,000	262,300	188,700	219,200	211,000
4th	Japan	89.902	109,300	100,200	160,700	166,100	195,565	187.046	186,736
5.	Canada	189,330	142.155	134,700	134.225	105.413	158,299	154,759	135.921
6th	Australia	998	35,309	44,600	112,200	101,594	120,520	108,500	114,517
7th	New Caledonia	43,821	32,580	32,278	43,914	39,802	95,983	104.094	107.914
8th.	Finland	4,009	12,646	17,136	54,429	49,772	85,424	85,780	92,591
9.	Norway	38,478	37.123	57,811	58,700	92.185	92,735	86,495	90,758
10.	Brazil	2,631	2,504	13.004	31,751	41,900	77,100	68,500	62,200
11.	South Korea	0	0	8,200	0	21,173	44,857	43,861	43,386
12.	Colombia	0	0	18,425	27,737	49,443	37.091	40,606	43,055
13.	United Kingdom	36,741	19,300	26,500	37,976	31,600	45.194	38.052	41,220
14th	South Africa	8,981	18,100	28,200	36,600	34,700	42,100	43,000	40,000
15th	Madagascar	0	0	0	0	0	42.105	35,474	33.183
16.	Dominican Republic	0	16,552	28,701	27,829	0	9,961	15,363	18,794
17th	Myanmar	0	0	0	0	0	22,562	21,828	18,100
18th	Cuba	36,287	20,020	21,126	39,511	33,972	15,000	15,800	16,800
19th	Ukraine	2,200	3,300	5,500	700	21,900	18,100	15,300	15,807
20th	Greece	8,642	13,880	15,728	17.126	13,960	17,071	16,781	15,720
21st	Guatemala	0	0	0	0	0	8,688	12,416	14,688
22nd	North Macedonia	0	0	0	0	14,400	10,600	7,200	10.100
23.	Kosovo	0	0	0	0	7,200	4,300	7,100	4,800
24.	France	10.306	9,792	8,539	12,300	12,900	4,600	2,300	3,700
25th	Poland	1.996	1,800	400	732	600	770	720	700
26th	Austria	0	0	0	1,300	1,000	700	700	700

World production

The following table shows the world production of metallurgical nickel in thousands of tons.

Figures in thousands of tons

year Prod. 1970 601 1971 620 1972 593 1973 662 1974 742 1975 747 1976 742 1977 714 1978 603 1979 639

year Prod. 1980 731 1981 692 1982 585 1983 646 1984 731 1985 762 1986 806 1987 857 1988 924 1989 937

year Prod. 1990 902 1991 923 1992 879 1993 806 1994 826 1995 922 1996 954 1997 1020 1998 1040 1999 1050

year Prod. 2000 1120 2001 1190 2002 1210 2003 1220 2004 1260 2005 1290 2006 1320 2007 1340 2008 1390 2009 1370

year Prod. 2010 1440 2011 1630 2012 1810 2013 1980 2014 2000 2015 1930

Web links

• US Geological Survey
• British Geological Survey

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} United States Geological Survey: Nickel Statistics and Information
2. ^ ^{A b} British Geological Survey: World mineral statistics archive
3. ↑ United States Geological Survey: World Production since 1900