How to Extract Nickel From Its Source

Roasting the Nickel Ore

• 1

  Cut the end off a propane tank, about a foot in from the end, by using a hacksaw or blowtorch. Use the torch to cut five or six 6-inch wide holes in the bottom of the end so that your fire can get oxygen. Set a metal can (a coffee can works) up in the middle, with the bottom up.

• 2

  Put small wood pieces in the bowl you've just made and burn them to make a bed of charcoal. Break your nickel ore into pieces about the size of your fist. Make stacks of wood, supported by three 4x4 pieces and the larger wood strips. You'll cover each layer with about 20 pounds of nickel ore before adding another set of 4x4's and strips. The process described here will give you enough wood for six layers.

• 3

  Light the fire. As it burns, it will develop charcoal, which will build up in the bowl. Ore will fall down into the cauldron on top of the wood. Let the fire burn until all of the wood has burned down and you have pieces of ore in the bowl. As the nickel ore reaches the desired temperature (400 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit), impurities will come out of the metal, including gases.

• 4

  Pick up the ore pieces using metal tongs or shovels and put them into a container of water. Then, scoop the pieces out of the water with a shovel and throw them onto a plastic sheet to let it dry. You now have roasted nickel oxide.

Reduction and Purification

• 5

  Place the ore into a furnace that is capable of reaching 1700 to 1740 degrees Fahrenheit to reduce the ore and purify it further. Not many furnaces like this are accessible to the public at large, so this is likely to take place only in a foundry.

• 6

  Mix the nickel oxide with coke in this furnace as you heat it to the required temperature. The nickel oxide will interact with the carbon to produce pure nickel and carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a toxic by-product; most industrial furnace systems are equipped with toxin evacuation systems. However, you want to stay clear of the fumes if you are involved in the process.

• 7

  Keep the nickel and carbon monoxide together in heat to produce nickel carbonyl vapor. As long as you keep the temperature above 446 degrees Fahrenheit, the nickel carbonyl vapor will start to decompose, and nickel will sublimate from the vapor and adhere to the other pure nickel. Many foundries have stirring machines that will keep the nickel pieces moving during this process, increasing the available surface area for nickel adhesion. This last phase is called the "Mond process" and was patented in 1899.