Nickel is widely used because of its excellent physical and chemical properties. Stainless steel and super alloys for turbine blades are representative nickel-based alloys. It is noteworthy that nickel has recently been adopted for use as a component of electronic devices such as capacitors and secondary batteries. Nickel is indispensable in our day-to-day life, and it is widely used in basic to advanced applications. A future shortage of nickel is anticipated because the demand for this metal in developing countries in places like BRICs and Southeast Asia is rapidly increasing along with their economic growth. There are two kinds of nickel ore: sulfide ore and oxide ore. Sulfide ore is mainly used because of its ease of concentration and smelting. Oxide ore, which is not as useful at this stage, should be considered as a potential new source of nickel for the future since it contains 70% of nickel resources. This paper reviews the current status of the resources and supply–demand of nickel as well as its metallurgical processing. An update and outlook on hydrometallurgical process technologies for nickel laterite ore, especially the HPAL process, which will be widely applied because of its high efficiency, are introduced.
