Mineral intelligence
Nickel mining assets in Africa
Nickel splits into two markets that behave differently: the stainless steel trade, and the far more demanding battery grade sulphate market.
STRATUM does not yet publish verified nickel assets. Intelligence on this mineral is gathered continuously, and members are notified as assets clear verification.
What members see
Grades and assay results, resource and reserve estimates, evidence provenance, deal structure, infrastructure and power, and the geospatial layer. Identity of the operator is released only to compliance-cleared members on an approved request.
Nickel mining: uses, market and Africa’s position
What nickel is
Nickel comes from sulphide deposits, which are easier to process and yield battery grade material more readily, and from laterite deposits, which are near surface and abundant but require energy intensive processing. Which type an asset is determines nearly everything about its cost and its likely customer.
What nickel is used for
Stainless steel
The dominant use. Nickel provides the corrosion resistance that defines stainless, and this market sets the baseline price.
Battery cathodes
High nickel chemistries raise energy density, so nickel is central to longer range electric vehicles. This requires battery grade sulphate, a higher specification than steel demands.
Alloys and plating
Superalloys for aerospace, and nickel plating for corrosion protection across industry.
Nickel market outlook
Nickel has been through a heavy supply expansion, principally from Indonesian laterite, which reset prices and pushed higher cost producers out. The structural question is whether battery grade supply can be delivered at the quality and the carbon intensity that Western manufacturers increasingly require, which is a different question from whether there is enough nickel in aggregate.
Nickel in Africa
Nickel sulphide occurrences are known across the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe, in Tanzania, in Botswana and in Burundi. Sulphide hosted resources are strategically interesting precisely because they offer a cleaner route to battery grade material than laterite processing does.
What to check on a nickel asset
For a nickel asset, the first question is sulphide or laterite. Then whether the concentrate can reach battery grade specification, and what the deleterious elements look like. A modest sulphide resource with a clean flowsheet can be worth considerably more than a large laterite resource with no viable processing route.