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Main Content

What is nickel used for?

Stainless steel has become iconic of high-tech design and construction. Most stainless steels contain about 8-10% nickel. Around two-thirds of all refined nickel produced is used by the stainless steel industry.

Nickel is used to make other alloys with special properties. Corrosion-resistant alloys are used in chemical plants, while ‘super-alloys’ withstand extreme temperatures and are used in aviation. Nickel is also used in electronics and as a substrate for chromium plating.

Nickel is the fifth-most common element on Earth and occurs in sulphides found underground and laterites that can be mined using open pit methods.

Our business

Our business

Our nickel business is well placed to serve the global stainless steel industry, which depends on nickel and drives demand for it. Our mine assets are in Brazil, with two ferronickel production sites: Barro Alto and Codemin, in the state of Goiás.

The stainless steel industry uses two-thirds of the world’s nickel production and virtually all ferronickel produced each year. The balance is used mainly in the manufacture of alloy steel and other non-ferrous alloys.

Leadership

Ruben Fernandes

Regional Director, Americas

Ruben Fernandes

Regional Director, Americas

MBA, MSc (Metallurgical Engineering), CEO of Base Metals, since March 2019

Ruben was appointed Regional Director, Americas on 1 July 2023 with responsibility for Anglo American’s businesses in Brazil (iron ore and nickel), Chile (copper) and Peru (copper).

He previously served as CEO of Base Metals and CEO of Anglo American Brazil. Prior to joining the Group in 2012, Ruben was head of mining at Votorantim Metals in Brazil, responsible for projects and exploration activities around the world, as well as operations in Peru and Colombia. Between 2009 and 2011, he was COO at Vale Fertilizers, responsible for the fertiliser operations, sales and marketing. Ruben was also CEO of Kaolin Companies – Pará Pigments and Cadam – two subsidiaries of Vale, between 2007 and 2009, and held various analysis, marketing and project roles in Vale’s Base Metals business which he joined in 1999. Between 1988 and 1998, he held several leadership roles in the special alloys industry.

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Brazilian nickel mines

1

2

Barro Alto
Codemin
1

BARRO ALTO - The Barro Alto nickel deposit was discovered in the late 1960s and we completed our purchase of the deposit for $35 million in 2002. We started production at Barro Alto in 2011.

See the Barro Alto mine
2

CODEMIN - The Codemin mine produces around 9,000 tonnes of nickel each year for the domestic market.

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Contacts

Anglo American in Brazil

NICKEL
Rua Maria Luiza Santiago
200 – 60 andar – Santa Lucia
Belo Horizonte, MG,
Brazil

For sales enquiries, please email: [email protected]

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