Geological Occurrence And Economic Importance Of Nickel 1

Description

ABSTRACT

Nickel is a metal whose workability and mechanical strength at high temperatures and in corrosive environments makes it an indispensable alloying element for the realization of stainless steel, specialty steel, super-alloys, rechargeable batteries and electroplating. Because its main fields of application are key to the development of industry and, thus, to society, nickel has recently been recognized as a potentially critical mineral, despite its abundant reserves. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the geological occurrence and economic importance of nickel.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWELDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

• AIM/OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
• PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
• SCOPE OF THE STUDY
• REASERCH QUESTION
• RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• OVERVIEW OF NICKEL
• ATOMIC AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
• ELECTRON CONFIGURATION Of NICKEL
• HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF NICKEL
• AN OVERVIEW OF NICKEL IN AFRICA
• FACTORS AFFECTING NICKEL SUPPLY AND DEMAND

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

• LOCATION AND GEOLOGIC SETTING
• MODE OF OCCURRENCE OF NICKEL DEPOSIT
• ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF NICKEL

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULT ANALYSIS

• RESULT AND DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

• CONCLUSION
• REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                              INTRODUCTION

1.1                                               BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nickel (Ni) is a ferro-alloy metal used mainly in the production of stainless steel. It resists corrosion and is found useful as plating material to protect other metals. Geologically, nickel is most commonly found within ultramafic and mafic igneous rocks or their metamorphic equivalents (serpentinite and talc schists), and shows a close affinity with chromium (Cr) in its mode of occurrence. However, unlike chromium, nickel occurs in mineral deposits predominantly as nickel sulfide such as pentlandite {(Fe,Ni9)S)8} and heazlewoodite (Ni3S2), but rarely as an oxide, and even rarer still, as native metal (Ni0) or Ni-Fe alloy (Krishnarao, 1964). So, it can be stated unequivocally that the occurrence of native nickel in mineral deposits is extremely rare. Garnierite, a Ni-bearing iron silicate containing about 1-2% Ni is found in lateritic nickel deposits.

In August 2016, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Mining and Steel Development (MMSD) announced the discovery of a “highly unusual and world class” nickel deposit in Nigeria by an Australian mining company (Comet Minerals Company Ltd) near the rural village of Dangoma in Kaduna State (Fig. 1). The announcement created a lot of excitement by both the Federal Government and the local populace, who believed that Nigeria has, at last discovered its own “diamonds” (reference to South Africa) – the discovery of a large metallic ore deposit that will boost Nigeria’s solid mineral sector which has lagged behind in its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The Nigerian economy in 2017 showed a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over $470 billion (US dollars). It ranked as the largest in Africa but is a monolithic economy that is heavily dependent on the oil and gas sector which contributes 38% of the nominal GDP, over 90% of export earnings, and 75% of gross revenues.

As the price of crude oil declined sharply in recent years, Nigeria has struggled to find other revenue sources by diversifying its economy through energizing the other sectors; particularly the solid minerals and mining sector which has accounted for only a paltry 0.3% of the GDP and only about 0.02% of total exports. This scenario can be compared to that of South Africa, the second largest economy in Africa, in which the mining sector contributes about 20% of the GDP. The announcement of the nickel discovery by the Australian company was welcome news that bolstered the efforts of the Federal Government in encouraging private foreign investment in the exploration and exploitation of the country’s mineral resources.

Since the discovery of this unique metallic deposit, relatively little is known about its geological characteristics while detailed exploration and surface mining had continued for over two years at the site. Access to the area is very much restricted due to privacy and security reasons. The uniqueness of the Ni deposit has generated considerable curiosity among geologists, particularly with respect to its geological environment, mode of occurrence and possible origin. A field investigation of the Dangoma deposit was undertaken in 2017, along with a review of available information and research on native Ni. This paper presents preliminary observations on the geologic setting, geological occurrence, probable origin of the nickel deposit and economic importance of nickel.

1.2                                 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main aim of this work is to carry out a research on the geological occurrence and economic importance of nickel. At the end of this work, student involved shall be able to achieve the following objectives:

1. The description of nickel shall be studied
2. The geological occurrence of nickel shall be known

• Application, uses and economic importance of nickel

1. Discovery of nickel

1.3                                       PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this work is to become familiar with the geological occurrence and economically important of nickel.

1.4                                       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Nickel is estimated to be the fifth most abundant element of the earth, having an average bulk percentage of 2.7. The average nickel content of the earth’s crust, however, is estimated to be only 0.008 percent. The minimum concentration of nickel in deposits that can be economically mined is about 1.2 percent, or 150 times the content of the crustal rocks in which the deposits occur.

There are two principal types of nickel deposits : ( 1) sulfide deposits consisting mainly of pyrrhotite and pentlandite, with or without accompanying chalcopyrite, and closely associated with norite and peridotite, and (2) nickeliferous laterite deposits, occurring as weathering mantles that overlie peridotite (the nickel silicate variety) and serpentinite (the nickeliferous iron variety).

Nickeliferous laterite clearly appears to be the result of weathering under tropical to subtropical conditions, probably mostly in Tertiary time. The sulfide deposits are generally believed to have resulted, in part, from magmatic segregation of immiscible sulfides and concentration by gravity sorting of the lighter and heavier fractions. This theory is contested by some geologists, however, particularly for deposits in several of the larger districts. The most popular alternate theory is that the deposits formed by deposition from hydrothermal solutions that migrated upward from igneous sources at depth along permeable zones of fracturing and faulting. One large recently discovered deposit possibly formed by the leaching effect of sulfur-bearing solutions on peridotite during regional metamorphism. Resources and reserves in individual deposits are given if the information is available.

1.5                             REASERCH QUESTION

Where are nickel deposits found?

What type of rock is nickel found in?

Where is nickel found?

How is nickel formed?

1.6                        RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In the course of carrying this study, numerous sources were used which most of them are by visiting libraries, consulting journal and news papers and online research which Google was the major source that was used.

1.7                                      PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discuses the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study,  chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.