List of World's Top Ten Nickel Mine Producers

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The recent data from Mining Intelligence ranks nickel mine producers of the world, based on the estimated production totals during the previous year. Accordingly, Vale, Norilsk Nickel and Glencore emerged as the top three producers in terms of nickel derived from mines. The ranking is purely based on mine production and does not include nickel provided by external parties.

The Brazilian miner, Vale, was the topmost nickel producer during the previous year with a total estimated output of 243 kilotonnes. Nearly 47% of the output came from Sudbury Mine and Voisey's Bay Mine in Canada. In second place was the Russian miner, Norilsk Nickel, whose output totaled 163 kilotonnes. Out of this total, nearly 155 kilotonnes were produced by its Kola and Polar Division mines. Glencore, in third place, produced 130 kilotonnes of nickel during 2017.

The other miners to feature in the top-10 producers’ list were BHP Billiton (70 kilotonnes), Anglo American (44 kilotonnes), South32 (41 kilotonnes), Sumitomo (32 kilotonnes), Western Areas (25 kilotonnes), Lundin Mining (22 kilotonnes) and Terrafame (21 kilotonnes).

Global nickel prices witnessed unforeseen fluctuation during the course of the current year. In early-June ’18, the prices had surged higher to more than $15,000 per tonne, up by almost 25% from the end-2017 levels. Since then, the prices have fallen to almost $12,400 per tonne on the LME.