U.S., Sept. 18 -- Global demand for the metal nickel is expected to increase from 2.2 million metric tons to somewhere in the range of 3.5 million to 4.0 million metric tonnes by 2030, a report from McKinsey & Company has found.
According to the report - How Clean Can the Nickel Industry become? - 74 percent of the nickel market is still driven by the stainless-steel industry, despite growing interest in the electric vehicle battery segment, which currently only represents five to eight percent of demand.
In order to make stainless steel, both Class 1 and Class 2 nickel are used. Class 1 nickel production sees about 70 percent originating from sulfide ores, which are concentrated, smelted, and refined, and approximately 30 percent from li...