07 February 2025
Nickel is one of the world’s most essential natural resources. With its ability to resist corrosion and withstand heat, nickel is an essential component in the manufacture of stainless steel. It also has excellent capacity for electrical energy storage, which makes nickel a viable raw material for the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles (EV).
Indonesia is home to the largest nickel reserves in the world. According to data from the 2024 Mineral Commodity Summaries issued by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Indonesia has nickel reserves of 55 million metric tons. This wealth of resources means Indonesia has the potential to be a major player in the global nickel market, and a driving force in the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.
Indonesia actually constitutes 42.3 percent of the world's total nickel reserves. In second place is Australia, with nickel reserves estimated at around 24 million metric tons. With that in mind, it is essential for us to understand more about nickel, and its potential to be one of Indonesia's major export commodities.
Nickel is a silvery-white, shiny, and corrosion-resistant metallic element, represented in the periodic table by the Ni symbol and with an atomic number of 28. Nickel is the fifth most common metal found in the world, in mineral deposits embedded in the Earth's crust.
Nickel has a number of physical and chemical properties that make it especially useful (and relatively sustainable). These properties include:
1. High boiling point (1,453 degrees Celsius)
2. Resistance to corrosion and oxidation
3. Malleability, without compromising durability
4. Magnetism at room temperature
5. Heat resistance
6. Electrical conductivity
7. Can be recycled
Nickel has been around for a long time. It was first recorded in the 1400s, when German miners discovered a reddish-brown substance, which they believed to be a kind of copper ore. However, it transpired that this ‘copper’ was strangely difficult to extract from the ore; a source of frustration that led them to name the material "kupfernickel", a Saxon word meaning "devil's copper".
It was not until 1751 that a Swedish chemist, Axel Cronstedt, identified nickel as a distinct metal, not copper as was initially believed. Then, in the 19th century, nickel began to grow in popularity as a metal coating or metal alloy because of its strong, rust-resistant, and heat-resistant properties. In 1857, the United States began using nickel in the production of coins.
In 1912, British scientist Harry Brearly created a stainless steel which incorporated a nickel alloy that gave it additional rust-resistant properties. To this day, nickel is most widely used as an alloy in the production of stainless steel.
Research on the use of nickel is still ongoing. Now nickel is also used as a precursor raw material for batteries, because of its capacity for effective and efficient energy storage. Looking to the future, nickel is expected to become even more integral to technological development.
With its rust- and oxidation-resistant properties, nickel is particularly well-suited to conducting electricity. As a result, nickel has a number of useful applications in daily life. Here are just a few of them:
As mentioned above, nickel is a raw material commonly used in stainless steel; one of the most ubiquitous materials in the world, used in everything from cutlery and cars to surgical implements in the medical sector.
Nickel is perfectly suited to stainless steel because it displays excellent flexibility at both low and high temperatures, especially compared to iron, which is comparatively brittle and prone to failure at low temperatures.
Currently, stainless steel with a nickel alloy dominates 80 percent of the stainless steel market. The two most popular types of stainless steel, namely type 304 and type 316, both contain nickel.
Nickel batteries are chosen because of their impressive electrical storage capacity, along with their ability to conduct electricity. As a result, nickel performs brilliantly as a cathode in batteries. Nickel was first used for this purpose back in the 1980s, in nickel cadmium (NiCD) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries.
Nickel-based battery technologies continue to evolve. Currently, nickel cobalt aluminum (NCA) batteries and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries, which contain around 80 percent nickel, are the two types of batteries most widely used in electric vehicles.
Electroplating is a metal coating process using electric current and certain chemical compounds to create a metal coating. This imbues the surface of a material with the physical and chemical properties of the coating, thereby enabling it to conduct electricity better, or making it more rust resistant.
Nickel is one of the metals often used for this purpose, helping materials become more rust- and wear-resistant, while also giving them a more attractive appearance. This is especially beneficial to the automotive and electronics industries.
Nickel is a metal alloy that has iron and non-iron properties, which endow it with many benefits and uses. Indonesia is home to the world’s largest nickel reserves, meaning nickel has great potential to contribute to the prosperity of the nation.
To utilize nickel and explore its full potential, Harita Nickel is a nickel mining and processing company operating on Obi Island, South Halmahera Regency, North Maluku Province. In addition to mining nickel ore, Harita Nickel has a smelter facility that can process raw nickel ore into ferronickel, which is a raw material used in the production of stainless steel.
Harita Nickel also has a refining facility that can process low-grade nickel ore (limonite), which would otherwise be discarded, into mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) and nickel sulfate. These raw materials are the main components for cathodes in EV batteries.
In carrying out its activities, Harita Nickel continually strives to implement the principles of good corporate governance (GCG), with special emphasis on environmental sustainability. Moreover, Harita Nickel endeavors to deliver positive impacts to residents in the vicinity of the company’s operational areas and citizens of Indonesia in general.
This all forms part of Harita Nickel's wider commitment to contribute to the nation's progress and build a more sustainable, more prosperous future based around nickel.
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