“[The Chinese are] looking to take advantage of the expected growth [in nickel demand for battery uses]. All of us are skeptical. It’s not impossible, but it’ll take a lot of work and a lot of money,” one nickel producer source said.
“Of course it’s going to be more expensive, and it’s going to take a bit more time, but it’s going to be done. I believe [these developments] will be successful, one way or another,” Jerome Baudelet, sales and marketing director for Eramet Nickel, said on the nickel panel at Fastmarkets’ International Ferro-alloys Conference in Lisbon this week.
HPAL projects are capable of producing class-one nickel for battery applications. Demand for nickel – specifically nickel sulfate and the feed required to produce it – is likely to soar as a result of the electric vehicle (EV) revolution and the associated demand...
