EVERYDAY MATERIALSAtlas
2025 estimated output / USGS 2026

Nickel

Nickel content of annual mine production, not ore tonnage, refined-metal output or battery-grade nickel sulphate. New Caledonia is reported separately by USGS and is an overseas territory of France.

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Mine production, contained nickel

metric tonnes of nickel / 2025
Nickel 2025 production by countryTab through country markers to hear quantities. Select a marker to reach its table row. Approximate country centres, not production sites. Circle area is proportional to output. All figures are also in the table below.Indonesia: 2,600,000 metric tonnes of nickelPhilippines: 270,000 metric tonnes of nickelRussia: 200,000 metric tonnes of nickelCanada: 140,000 metric tonnes of nickelNew Caledonia: 140,000 metric tonnes of nickelChina: 120,000 metric tonnes of nickelBrazil: 70,000 metric tonnes of nickelAustralia: 45,000 metric tonnes of nickelUnited States: 10,000 metric tonnes of nickel
Select or focus a country marker to read its reported output. The full table is below.

Approximate country centres, not mine or factory sites. Circle areas scale with output; very small markers have a minimum visible size. Natural Earth land outline, public domain. Country groupings without coordinates appear only in the table.

Nickel · Mine production, contained nickel · 2025 estimates
Country / reporting groupmetric tonnes of nickel
Indonesia2,600,000
Philippines270,000
Russia200,000
Canada140,000
New Caledonia140,000
China120,000
Brazil70,000
Australia45,000
United States10,000
Other countries290,000
World total (rounded)3,900,000

Read the pattern.

Indonesia has the largest reported mine output, followed by the Philippines and Russia. Nickel ores and processing routes vary, and production can feed stainless steel as well as batteries and other uses. A tonne of contained nickel from mining is not automatically a tonne of battery-grade product. The table gives no ranking of the environmental performance of those routes.

From country output to a real object

Laterite and sulphide ores require different treatment routes to usable nickel products. Intermediate material may be traded, refined and alloyed in several places. Stainless steel and some battery cathodes use nickel in different forms; other battery chemistries avoid it. A material’s mine geography should not be mistaken for a finished product’s supplier record.

Nickel

Follow the evidence

Original explanations informed by the sources below. Technical and industry sources support material behaviour; industry environmental marketing is not treated as a universal comparison. Read our editorial method.