Nickel Over $6/Lb. for First Time in ~2 1/2 Yrs.

[Recyclersteve]

Nickel is over $6 a pound for the first time since mid-2015. The neat thing about it is that the all-time high (over 10 years ago) was $22-23/lb. So it could double and still be nowhere near the all-time high.

I calculated recently that a Tesla Model S used over 350 lbs. of nickel with the battery packs. I imagine there are lots of nickel hoarders who don't even have that much nickel in their hoards.

Elon Musk of Tesla has said that rather than say the cars use lithium ion batteries, they should instead use the term nickel graphite.
The battery production is such that it requires high purity nickel and about half the world's nickel won't suffice. Nickel from places like the Philippines and Indonesia doesn't meet the purity requirements. I would imagine that .999 Canadian nickels should be just fine to melt down for those of us in the U.S. I don't know, however, what minimum quantities that refiners have when melting nickel.

This nickel price action along with the strong increase in demand for car batteries could be a bullish development for nickel that lasts for years. Cue the music- "O Canada..."

[mtalbot_ca]

Cue the music- "O Canada..."

We have a new unit of measure TNTU (Tesla Nickel Trade Unit).

O Canada....Terre de nos aïeux... (French version)

[frugi]

Actually Nickel achieved a bit over $27.00/lb in the summer of 2007.

Nickel reached an all time high of $54,050.00/ton in May of 2007 and a record low of $3730.50 in December of 1998.

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Been saving/buying Canadian pre-1981 nickels for the last 25 years. I must have 400-500 pounds by now.

Someday, I'm gonna be rich... I tell ya!

[Recyclersteve]

Been saving/buying Canadian pre-1981 nickels for the last 25 years. I must have 400-500 pounds by now.

Someday, I'm gonna be rich... I tell ya!

Good for you. I didn't finally get smart until around 2013 or so. I was once hoarding U.S. nickels, which have been culled for good dates (war nicks and pre 1960). The rest sat around for a few years, but have been returned to the banks. When I found out about the Canadian .999 nickels, that was really eye-opening to me. I love those things.

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Been saving/buying Canadian pre-1981 nickels for the last 25 years. I must have 400-500 pounds by now.

Someday, I'm gonna be rich... I tell ya!

Good for you. I didn't finally get smart until around 2013 or so. I was once hoarding U.S. nickels, which have been culled for good dates (war nicks and pre 1960). The rest sat around for a few years, but have been returned to the banks. When I found out about the Canadian .999 nickels, that was really eye-opening to me. I love those things.

My LCS owner gives me most of the Canadian nickels from his junk boxes whenever I buy a 1oz of gold from him (and I do it quite frequently).

My Uncle took me on a trip to Montreal in 1973. He knew my love for coins, so he took me to the Canadian National bank building in downtown Montreal and he got a roll of Nickels for me. I still have the roll and I never opened it!

[biglouddrunk]

Where I work we use 10,000 lbs of nickel per week. Maybe someday our anode baskets will be full of Canadian nickels. Lol

[mtalbot_ca]

10,000 lbs of nickel per week...

WOW!

[Recyclersteve]

Where I work we use 10,000 lbs of nickel per week. Maybe someday our anode baskets will be full of Canadian nickels. Lol

What type of business uses that much nickel? Is it auto-related or a steel business by any chance? Also, do you know what country your nickel comes from? If you are in the U.S., I'm guessing your nickel would likely come from the Sudbury Basin part of Canada.