Dirty Nickel Pig Iron’s Pollution, Cost and Impurities are Obstacles for China and No Threat to Sudbury – by Nick Stewart
This article was originally posted on the Northern Life website on June 23, 2010.
The threat that Chinese-produced nickel pig iron poses to Sudbury’s nickel producers is overblown, according to mining analyst Raymond Goldie.
Speaking to the 11th International Platinum Symposium at Laurentian University’s Fraser Auditorium June 22, Goldie said that nickel pig iron — a low-cost substitute for refined nickel — is too flawed to pose a serious long-term threat.
“There’s two big problems with pig nickel,” Goldie, senior mining analyst and vice-president of Toronto-based Salman Partners, said. “Firstly, it’s dirty, and second, making it is dirty. It is in fact too dirty to be the sole source of nickel in stainless steel.”
Nickel pig iron is made by putting nickel-rich dirt in a specialized furnace. However, the end product is riddled with impurities, and must be blended with pure or virgin nickel to make stainless steel. For every pound of pig nickel, four pounds of virgin nickel is required.
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