We all use Nickel in our daily lives. It is one of the most useful metals that can be mined from the Earth. The only trouble is it is very difficult to find in vast quantities. At the moment there are four very big mines in the world. Without their constant stream mobile phones would be almost impossible to make and the industrial art of Electroless Nickel Plating to protect components from weathering, the elements and rust just could not happen.
The biggest mines are located in Canada and Indonesia. They are owned by the company of Vale SA who make a pretty penny (or Nickel if you prefer the United States equivalent) from them. This is a good thing as at least those countries are in the West or at least friendly towards us. The third biggest is located in Russia. This is not such good news as the Russian’s are not the most friendliest towards us so purchasing this vital material can be expensive.
There are other smaller mines in Canada, Brazil and Australia, so fine there, and there’s even one in Finland. The reason for that is because Nokia and Samsung are Finnish companies that have become synonymous with the Mobile phone. It also reduces the world’s carbon footprint if they can get the raw material from a localish source rather than going international. As long as we can win the metal from the ground it will all be fine, however, like all of the Earth’s resources it is finite.
