Nickel metallurgy

Nickel is both a very old and a very young metal. It's very old, since mankind has been using meteoric iron containing 3-25% nickel to make weapons since ancient times, and 235 B.C. the Bactrians used a natural alloy for their coins, pack-fong, with 20% nickel and 78% copper.

Nickel is also very young, having only entered industry in the 19th century, long after chemist Axel Cronstedt discovered it in complex ores in Sweden around 1750.

The name nickel was coined by Saxon miners mining copper ore, who sometimes extracted white metal instead of the expected yellow metal. This white metal was given the name Kupfer Nickel, i.e. copper made wild by old Nick, a mountain gnome.

Nickel was first produced in the form of cupronickel, and the first plant was set up in Saxony, at Suhl near Erfurt.

Around 1870, Norway began to produce a small amount of nickel (360 t in 1876, for example).

In 1863, Jules Garnier discovered an oxidized nickel ore in New Caledonia near Nouméa, later known as garnierite, and mining began in 1877.

Around 1886, the development of appropriate processing techniques made it possible to mine sulfide ores in Ontario, Canada, and to begin supplying the market with large quantities of nickel.

Nickel production has grown steadily since then, reaching over 800,000 t in 1994.