Page View
Bureau of Mines / Minerals yearbook metals, minerals, and fuels 1972
Year 1972, Volume 1 (1972)
Reno, Horace T.
Nickel, pp. 871-879 ff.
PDF (1017.9 KB)
Page 871
871Nickel By Horace T. Reno 1 Nickel supply came into closer balance with demand in 1972 because some of the lower grade, high-cost mines were shut down and nickel consumption in the United States, Western European countries, and Japan increased rapidly. Nevertheless, a large surplus nickel supply remained in the producers' inventory that built up in 1970 and 1971. Canadian nickel producers raised the quoted base price for pure nickel by approximately 15% the first of September. Producers in other countries except the United States followed the Canadian lead. The U.S. nickel industry was little affected by the worldwide imbalance between supply and demand. The domestic price was not changed until late in the year when the price of domestically produced ferronickel was raised approximately 7%. Domestic consumers used 25% more nickel in 1972 than in 1971 and more than doubled their use of ferronickel. The President approved legislation on July 26, 1972, that authorized disposal of all nickel held in the national stockpile. Stockpile nickel did not re~ach the open market during the year. Table 1.—Salient nickel statistics (Short tons) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 United States: Mine production 17,294 17,056 15,933 17,036 Plant production: Primary 15,241 15,810 15,558 15,654 Secondary 14,061 18,775 23,159 29,657 Exports 33,681 34,758 31,456 26,143 Imports for consumption 147,950 129,332 156,252 142,183 Consumption 159,306 141,737 155,719 128,802 Stocks Dec.31: Consumer 27,466 16,574 24,708 16,005 Price cents per pounL 94—103 103—128 128—133 133World: Mine production 547,960 536,608 692,710 699,906 16,864 15,731 35,926 21,671 178,870 159,286 26,205 133—153 698,007 DOMESTIC PRODUCTION The Hanna Mining Co. at Riddle, Oreg., refineries. Part of the byproduct nickel was the sole producer of primary nickel in originated from scrap. the United States. Byproduct nickel salts were produced at copper and other metal Phyiicalscientiit, Division of Ferrous Metals. Table 2.—Primary nickel produced in the United States (Short tons, nickel content) 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 Byproduct of metal refining 2,117 2,714 2,909 2,581Domestic ore 13,124 13,096 12,649 13,073 2,505 13,226
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/| As a work of the United States government, this material is in the public domain.| For information on re-use see: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright