Products

Nickel

The key to producing stainless steel

Nickel is a silver-white, lustrous, ductile and to a certain degree, magnetic metal. It is resistant to both corrosion and oxidation and can withstand high temperatures, thus it has several important uses. More than 60 percent of all nickel produced in the world is used for the production of stainless steel, but it is also used in rechargeable batteries, catalytic converters, coins, magnets and surface treatments. In the same way as most other metals, nickel can be recycled an unlimited number of times.

We produce mainly nickel matte, an intermediate product based on nickel concentrate. To produce nickel matte, we purchase nickel concentrate from both our own and external mines for processing in the Harjavalta smelting plant. The nickel matte is then sold onto external customers for further processing into pure metals. Our annual production is around 25 to 35 ktonnes of nickel in nickel matte.

We also produce around 1,000-2,000 tonnes of nickel in the form of crude nickel sulphate, a greenish yellow powder that is an important by-product of copper production. At the smelters in Rönnskär and Harjavalta, we extract crude nickel sulphate with a nickel content of between 22 and 27 percent for sale to external customers.

Chemical symbol: Ni
Appearance: Silver-white, lustrous
Melting point: 1,455 °C
Boiling point: 2,913 °C

nickel is included in most modern battery technology, a key component in the development of electric cars? A typical example is the Tesla model S85kWh, whose battery comprises more than 7,000 cells containing nickel.

Nickel mines:
Kevitsa

Nickel smelters:
Harjavalta