-----Original Message----- From: OrionWorks - Steven Vincent Johnson I would love to hear various opinions on the matter of available supplies of Nickel, particularly pertaining to the economy of actually mining the element. How realistic of a "conservative" prediction is the 100 year prediction? What economics are involved?
I looked into this recently. Presently nickel is mined from rich deposits such as the Sudbury Basin in Canada, which were former asteroid impact sites and have an unnaturally rich percentage. However, there are much larger deposits called laterites which are lower grade, and seldom mined due to comparative cost. These are very large tonnage, billion tons and more - but low-grade deposits. They are located close to the surface and can supply World energy needs for a very long time at a price of about 100/kg. (going by projections for copper prices - which is similar in ore concentration to laterites). There is roughly half as much nickel as carbon on earth ! IOW it is very common. Scarcity is not a problem - if the price is right. Jones
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