Editorial May 2008

Trivia repeats itself

It appears that the April editorial with its trivial facts column about titanium was very much enjoyed by you, our readers. As a result, just for this once, we intend to rerun a winning concept – this time with nickel so here we go with our facts on nickel.

Did you therefore know that:

• Most of the nickel mined comes from two types of deposits laterites and magmatic sulfides.
• 40% of the world’s resources of nickel are to be found at the massive Norilsk deposit in Siberia.
• The Sudbury region of Ontario, Canada currently produces 30% of the world’s nickel supply. The Sudbury deposit is believed to have been formed as the result of the impact of a gigantic meteorite early on in the geological history of the Earth.
• Most of the nickel on our planet is concentrated in the Earth’s crust. 
• The use of nickel is ancient, going back as far as 3500 BC. From this time bronzes have been found in Syria containing up to 2% nickel.
• White copper or baitung was used in the Orient between 1400 and 1700 BC according to Chinese documentation. Nevertheless, as nickel ores were easily confused with silver ores then, it was not until relatively contemporary times that there has been a true understanding of this metal. 
• Nickel owes its name to Baron Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who when attempting to extract copper from niccolite, obtained a white metal that he called nickel instead.
• The metal is magnetic and takes on a high polish.
• Coins of pure nickel were first used in Switzerland in 1881.
• In some cases nickel affects the skin of sensitized individuals, which may lead to dermatitis (skin infections).
• The US nickel coin, which contains 1.25 g of nickel and 3.75 g of copper at current prices of 7.2 and 3.8 cents respectively, is worth almost 10 cents. However, smelt it down at your peril! In 2006 the United States Mint issued new rules, fearing an onslaught of people melting down nickels. Those breaking the rules face a five year jail sentence or a US $ 10,000 fine.
• At present rates of mining, resources of nickel occurring naturally are expected to be used up in ninety years. 

Kindest regards,

On page 48 onwards of this issue you will find an article by James Chater on “Japan: trading know-how for energy”. Accompanying this article is a table of recent projects carried out in Japan by Japanese companies in various fields of industry. As it was too long to be included within the article we have put it on the Stainless Steel website. In order to retrieve the table from the article “Japan trading”, please click here.