Also today ( * , different article - referencing St George high grade emerging Nickel sulphide discovery in the Cathedrals Belt , WA. Aust )
“Nickel, as someone once said about oil, ain’t nickel. Or at least that’s the theory with (St George’s) .. “sulphide” nickel, believed to be perfect for conversion to battery grade metal, whereas laterite nickel is believed to have a single major use, as stainless-steel feedstock.
In time, batteries might drive nickel, but getting to that point is a slow-moving process even if the world’s biggest producers, including Russia’s Norilsk and Australia’s Nickel West (BHP), would like to see the development of a two-tier market with high-grade material attracting a price premium.
Splitting the nickel market into two classes will take time, and might never actually happen - thanks to Chinese metallurgists finding a way to get battery grade nickel out of laterites.
A better way to see nickel is as a metal which is likely to see-saw with market demand with the determining factor for investors being grade; the higher the better, and preferably not far from the surface.”
