{"id":42836,"date":"2024-02-02T08:19:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T08:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=42836"},"modified":"2024-02-02T13:07:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T13:07:25","slug":"nickel-in-australia-challenged-prices-driven-suppliers-outside-our-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/nickel-in-australia-challenged-prices-driven-suppliers-outside-our-country\/42836\/","title":{"rendered":"Nickel in Australia: How the country must challenge international competitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Adelaide’s Professor Michael Goodsite and Professor Carl Spandler outline the steps that Australia must take to provide nickel in a manner that meets market demand.<\/h2>\n

Nickel<\/a> is important for Australia due to its wide-ranging global applications. It is essential for our global energy transition, where it is used in batteries and other components of technology, contributing to a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s nickel mining operations, with major deposits in Western Australia (WA) and Queensland, primarily contribute almost 12% of the global nickel production (0.16 million tonnes of nickel in 2023), and there are an estimated 21 million tonnes of nickel in reserve in Australia, which equates to 22% of global reserves (USGS commodity summary for Nickel, 2023).<\/p>\n

Nickel has been used by humankind for over 5,000 years, and given its uses, especially in the transition to green energy, strong growth in demand for nickel is expected globally. Growing global demand should be a benefit for Australia; however, Australia must compete with international competitors, especially those in our own region, such as Indonesia and China.<\/p>\n

Thus, the price for nickel<\/a> is largely driven by supply in other countries, and a weak metal price leads to uncertainty with Australian nickel operations.<\/p>\n

Indeed, in January 2024 alone, WA\u2019s Ravensthorpe nickel mine announced that it was cutting 30% of its workforce<\/a>, and the on-site staff at the Savannah nickel mine were made redundant<\/a>. Even BHP isn\u2019t immune to the downturn in the price of nickel: the mining giant has announced it is mothballing its nickel concentrator at Kambalda, WA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nickel was just last year classified as a strategic material by the Australian Government, but this classification has not yet mitigated the impact of low prices for either it or another strategic material: aluminium, as Alcoa Kwinana alumina refinery, also announced in January a phased shutdown, which will result in around 1,000 job losses.<\/p>\n

Key facts about nickel in Australia<\/h3>\n

Australia recently announced a Strategic Materials list, including nickel, which means that nickel projects will be able to access billions of dollars of funding made available to strategic materials projects. Australia considers nickel and five other materials (aluminium, copper, phosphorous, tin and zinc) strategic as they do not yet meet the requirement to be critical.<\/p>\n

The Strategic Materials List contains minerals:<\/p>\n