An Overview of Nickel Utilization from Laterite Ore

Ferronickel is an important alloy and intermediate product for manufacturing many advanced materials with versatile functions, e.g., stainless steel. Its properties and performance are mainly relied on the content of nickel, which is now primarily extracted from laterite ore. This chapter provides an overview of nickel utilization from laterite ore. Based on a brief introduction of properties of metallic nickel, it summarizes the applications of nickel, demand of nickel, resources of nickel, and metallurgical processes of laterite ore, in which the rotary kiln-electric furnace (RKEF) smelting process is dominant for production of ferronickel. Lastly, it discusses the challenges and development of ferronickel-making.