Nickel reserves worldwide 2022, by country

As of 2022, the total global nickel reserves amounted to approximately 100 million metric tons. Of that amount, Indonesia and Australia held the world’s largest shares, at 21 million metric tons each.

Nickel facts

Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal; it is also a base metal. It has many important industrial uses, such as in the production of stainless steel and batteries. As with any natural resource that is important to industry and technology, maintaining adequate global reserves of nickel, or otherwise searching for new deposits, is crucial.

Global nickel production

More than 25 countries worldwide are mining nickel. The 2022 global nickel production amounted to an estimated 3.3 million metric tons. As one of the countries with the largest nickel reserves, it is fitting that Indonesia is also the world’s largest producer, having produced an estimated 1.6 million metric tons in 2022. Australia, on the other hand, is the world’s fifth-largest nickel producer, despite being tied for having the largest reserves.