Take a virtual tour of the largest nickel mines in the world

During the eighth week of COVID-19 lockdown in Australia some of the initial restrictions started to ease. We are, however, still a long way from recommencing international air travel. So I continue my virtual mine tour of the planet via Google Earth.

This week I have been visiting the ten largest nickel mines in the world.

Like the previous weeks I am sharing a .kmz file with all ten deposits, so you can come along too!

According to Mining[dot]com the ten largest nickel mines of the world (by annual production) in 2017 were:

1. Norilsk-Talnakh Kola-Polar Division, Russia, 155kt (A metric kiloton [kt] is 1,000 metric tons)
2. Integrated Nickel Operations (INO), Canada, 87kt
3. Sorowako, Indonesia, 78kt
4. Nickel West, Australia, 70kt
5. Sudbury, Canada, 62kt
6. Voisey’s Bay, Canada, 52kt
7. Cerro Matoso, Colombia, 41kt
8. Goro, New Caledonia, 36kt
9. Barro Alto, Brazil, 35kt
10. Murrin Murrin, Australia, 34kt

Nickel deposits fall into two categories: 

• Magmatic nickel sulphide deposits, which form when magmas derived from the Earth’s mantle ascend into the crust, in some cases reaching the Earth’s surface, and crystallise into iron-magnesium-nickel-rich mafic and ultramafic rocks containing local concentrations of Ni-rich sulphide minerals, mostly as Pentlandite. Norilsk-Talnakh, INO, Nickel West, Sudbury and Voisey’s Bay are magmatic nickel sulphide deposits.
• Lateritic nickel deposits, which result from intense tropical weathering of the iron-magnesium-nickel-rich mafic and ultramafic rocks. The original nickel content is increased by the weathering process. Sorowako, Cerro Matoso, Goro, Barro Alto and Murrin Murrin are lateritic nickel deposits.

Geophysics has played an important role in the discovery of several of the magmatic nickel sulphide deposits and in the delineation of the lateritic nickel deposits.

• Borehole electromagnetic (EM) surveying coupled with 3D geological modelling has led to several nickel sulphide discoveries in the Sudbury Basin. Cross-hole Radio Image Mapping (RIM) tomographic surveys are routinely deployed and at least one 3D seismic survey has been trialed.
• Detailed ground magnetics and geological mapping led to the discovery of the Nickel West Perseverance mine in 1971. Moving-loop electromagnetic surveys located the extents of its northern extension, the Rocky's Reward deposit, whilst it was being drilled on an anomalous geochemical response in 1984.
• Ground gravity, airborne magnetics and deep-penetrating ground TEM has been used to delineate the PGE-Cu-Ni Norilsk-Talnakh Deposits.
• Ground electric resistivity surveys have been used at Sorowako with good results.
• Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has been used to accurately delineate the extent of several of the lateritic nickel deposits.

But now, as promised, the virtual tour of the world’s ten largest nickel mines: download the Google Earth .kmz file from the Nordic Geoscience website by using this link:

https://www.nordicgeoscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Ten-Largest-Nickel-Mines-in-the-World-in-2017.zip

Unzip the downloaded .zip file and extract the archived “The Ten Largest Nickel Mines in the World in 2017.kmz” file.

Provided you have Google Earth Pro installed, you can now double-click on the “The Ten Largest Nickel Mines in the World in 2017.kmz” file and Google Earth Pro will launch (if Google Earth Pro is not installed – see below).

Alternatively you can launch Google Earth Pro and manually import the “The Ten Largest Nickel Mines in the World in 2017.kmz” file.

Once you have imported the “The Ten Largest Nickel Mines in the World in 2017.kmz” into Google Earth Pro, you can just double-click any of the ten place markers (yellow pins) in the expanded “Places” menu on the left, and Google Earth takes you there.

Figure 1 - Google Earth Pro launched with “The Ten Largest Nickel Mines in the World in 2017.kmz”. Click on any of the ten place marks (yellow pins) in the menu on the left, and the program will take you to that location.

I have been involved with deep-penetrating time-domain ground electromagnetic surveys at Nickel West with spectacular results and with airborne gravity gradiometry surveys over both Nickel West and Cerro Matoso. Despite this my personal favourite has to be the Norilsk-Talnakh Kola-Polar Division deposits in Russia, although I have not been there....yet. Not only are they the largest nickel producing mines in the world, but they also rank as the world’s seventh largest copper mine. In 2015 Norilsk Mines announced that they were sitting on metal reserves worth US$1 trillion at Talnakh – making it the most valuable ore deposit in the world.

Figure 2 – Google Earth aerial view of the Norilsk-Talnakh Kola-Polar Division deposits in Russia. Image by Nordic Geoscience.

Which nickel mine is your favourite and why?

Travel virtually, for now stay at home and stay safe!

Asbjorn Norlund Christensen is a consulting geophysicist at Nordic Geoscience, a geoscience consultancy with bespoke solutions in exploration geophysics and data science – www.nordicgeoscience.com

PS:

Here is a link to the Mining[dot]com article outlining the ten largest nickel producing mines in 2017:

https://www.mining.com/top-nickel-miners-ranked-2017-production/

You will need Google Earth Pro on your device to enjoy the tour. You can download Google Earth Pro from here: https://www.google.com/earth/versions/