Nickel

Mineração

Nickel

Nickel

Vale is the world’s largest producer of nickel, one of the most versatile metals in existence.

Hard and malleable, nickel resists corrosion and maintains its mechanical and physical properties even when subjected to extreme temperatures.

Our high-qualitynickelis also valued for its applications in plating and batteries. It gives your bathroom taps and shower heads their bright metallic finish. It’s in everything from your coins to your car. You’ll also find it in your mobile phone and the rechargeable batteries that power it while you’re sending a text, checking email and staying in touch.

Where?

We have nickel mine and operations in Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and New Caledonia as well as fully-owned and joint venture refineries in China, South Korea, Japan, the U.K. and Taiwan.

We produce a wide range of products that are able to meet the diverse needs of nickel consumers. Our regional sales offices directly serve our customers throughout the world.

Mapa

Facts

In Canada, five-cent coins are nicknamed “nickels.” Every year, in our Sudbury operation in Canada, we produce around 65,000 metric tons of this metal – enough to make roughly 831 billion of these coins.

Technology and Sustainability

  • Cleaner atmosphere

    Vale is investing in the Clean AER Project (AER stands for Atmospheric Emissions Reduction’) in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The project aims to cut sulfur dioxide emissions from the nickel melting process by 85%.

  • Waste reduction

    At the Clydach Refinery in the U.K., employees were challenged to reduce waste. In 2011, 85% of waste generated at the Refinery, including hazardous waste, was recovered or recycled. Up next for the Refinery? To reuse, recycle and use 100% of generated waste to produce renewable energy in the next five years.

  • Recovery

    In Indonesia, post-mining land reclamation efforts have been recognized by the local government for four consecutive years. A revegetation program involves re-contouring mined land, restoring topsoil, and planting grasses, legumes and canopy trees to create a microclimate suitable for the reintroduction of native plant species.

Learn more about Nickel



The sulphide ores we mine contain more than just nickel. Other elements are often found and by extracting and processing nickel, our operations also produce cobalt, copper and precious metals.

Nickel and the humankind have a longtime partnership: the use of the metal has been traced as far back as 3500 b.C.

  • Alloys

    Nickel is rarely used alone; it is usually combined with other metals to form alloys. These combinations produce materials with a unique range of properties not found in pure metals.

  • The alloys usage

    The alloys of nickel and other metals have been developed for use in jet engines and in industrial gas turbines for electricity generation. They are also found in heater elements, resistance wires, heat exchangers in power plants and furnace components.