In the Middle Ages, the alchemist's dream was that one day he would be able to convert iron into silver and lead it into gold. Their tools were magic and secret formulas. For them, modern technology has replaced science and daring, prohibiting the alchemist from oblivion. At the same time, technology has launched useful materials and a wealth of what was previously considered practically useless rock.

There are few or no places on Earth where this is more evident than in the mining district of Sudbury Nickel in the province of Ontario, Canada, where one of the richest known mineral deposits is found.

Origin of mineral bodies

After years of trying to solve the riddle of the origin of this great store of riches, with its unique geological formations and unusual topographic features, many geologists now accept a theory that finds support in field work and the laboratory analysis. . They believe that the rich Sudbury Basin, as geologists called it, is actually the remains of a huge crater that a giant meteor spat out from the earth's crust. They estimate that the meteorite has a diameter of 3 to 5 kilometers and hit the Earth with an impact 200,000 times more powerful than that caused by the explosion of the atomic bomb launched on Hiroshima, in Japan.

The fact that broken cones completely surround the Sudbury basin tends to support the theory of impact. These features are a particular conical form of fracture caused by huge shock waves crossing the rock, characteristic of meteorite impact sites. Geologists have observed that there are more broken conical rocks in the Sudbury Basin than anywhere else on Earth. This geological feature is so similar to that found on the surface of the moon that, in 1971 and 1972, astronauts on the Apollo mission from the United States, in preparation for landing on the moon to examine its geological characteristics, formed during a period in the Sudbury Region.

Geologists now believe that after the meteorite hit, molten rock emerges from the Earth's mantle, carrying concentrations of nickel and copper minerals to the broken crust. There they cooled and hardened in the huge masses of minerals which remained unknown and to be discovered until recently.

Accidental discovery

The Sudbury Basin ore was discovered by accident. In August 1883, railway construction crews in the area destroyed a passage through solid rock. An observer blacksmith discovered what turned out to be minerals containing copper and nickel. News of major copper discoveries began to circulate immediately and prospectors ran to the area to recover the minerals.

Several mines have been opened, but many believe that they were short-lived. The commonly used smelting process did not produce pure copper from this mineral, but copper mixed with large amounts of nickel. At that time, nickel was little used and demand was low. In fact, it was considered a problematic metal, not a precious metal, because separating copper with methods known at the time was difficult and expensive. Interestingly, it was this fact that gave nickel its name originally.

Over 200 years ago, some Saxon miners in Europe tried to melt what they thought was copper ore, but which produced an unknown white metal instead of the copper they expected. Being superstitious and a believer in spells and witchcraft, they concluded that Satan had cast a spell on mine. Therefore, they called the new metal "Old Nick's Copper" or, as they said in their language, Kupfernickel. Over the years it has become known simply as "nickel".

The success of new Sudbury mining developments appears to depend entirely on the resolution of the metallurgical problems of economic separation of copper from nickel. No one at the time knew much about this process and there was little incentive to develop one. Total global nickel use was relatively insignificant, mainly for nickel and nickel parts. Consequently, the future did not look bright for the new mines. They contained large quantities of metal-rich ore for which there was not yet a satisfactory fusion and separation process. In addition, there was no large market for the finished product.

Discovery of a new test

Numerous experiments have shown that adding a nitrate cake during the melting of the mineral could achieve an economical separation of the two metals. The annoying problem has been resolved. For many years, this remained a Canadian standard method of processing Sudbury-exclusive minerals. In fact, it was a technological triumph that would open the door to a new industry that would eventually produce wealth and benefits that were not even imagined at the time.

The North American nickel "industry" entered the 20th century, mainly around two companies, one with a large quantity of minerals as raw material and the other with a satisfactory method of metal separation. The need to respond was obvious.

Through a series of mergers and exchanges since 1902, the giant industrial complex of companies is now known as the International Nickel Company of Canada, Limited or Inco Limited. It is now Canada's largest mining company and the world's largest nickel producer, supplying hundreds of millions of pounds (tens of millions of kilograms) of nickel annually. Inco has demonstrated mineral reserves of more than 400,000,000 tons. No less than 15 elements are mined from its complex minerals, including appreciable amounts of precious metals, such as gold and platinum. It has 19 mines in Canada and is represented in almost twenty countries.

In recent years, other companies have started operations to mine nickel, which has increased nickel production for global use. One of the largest is Falconbridge Mines, Limited, founded in 1928 to develop a property examined years ago by the famous American inventor and scientist Thomas Alva Edison. He could not overcome some technical problems and abandoned the project. But Falconbridge was successful and today it is the heart of an industrial and mining empire that, like Inco, has a truly international reach. He is the second largest employer in the Sudbury district.

Research expands the market

To ensure a stable market for their increasing productivity, nickel producers continue to spend large sums of money on research to find more and more uses for nickel. It is no longer considered a nuisance to copper miners, it is usually called "miracle metal" or "friendly metal". Nickel is used in almost every area that a person could name.

Nickel's main value lies in its quality as an alloy. Therefore, it is rarely used in its purest form. In general, varying amounts of nickel are added to other metals, giving them unique nickel properties, long-lasting beauty, strength, and resistance to corrosion, temperature, and shine. More than 3,000 nickel alloys are now commonly used in items ranging from stainless steel sinks to spaceships.

Supersonic passenger travel is made possible by super nickel-containing alloys in jet engines. Nickel was used in many of the critical components of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, allowing for the first manned moon landing in 1969. A nickel steel plate remains on the moon, where astronauts mark the first human visit. for a body in space

This interesting metal is also experiencing increasing demand in construction as buildings grow. A nickel steel alloy designed for construction beams has the strength of conventional beams, but weighs only a quarter.

The coin is an increasingly important example of the use of pure nickel. In Canada, for example, all coins except one penny are made of pure nickel. Almost all other nations use this metal as currency in its pure form or in combination with another metal. One of the reasons why countries turn to nickel coins is that nickel coins last longer, demonstrating the hardness and wear resistance of metal.

Effect on the environment

Many visitors to Sudbury and the surrounding area hear comments on the rocky and arid nature of the area. Often they say it looks like the surface of the moon. In reality, it is "different", with a large part of the earth's surface marked and desolate. Therefore, there was a price to pay for seeking wealth in the rocks of the earth. Note, however, that the withdrawal from the field was not entirely caused by the mining companies. Several years before the start of mining, intense activities started the process of transforming the wooded hills into a virtual desert. After the loggers removed the vast expanses of pines, prospectors entered and burned the fallen earth and the fine loam, sometimes indiscriminately, to expose the underlying rock and facilitate the search for mineral deposits.

Subsequently, roasting outside of the nearby rich minerals followed at Copper Cliff, Ontario. Air pollution from sulfur dioxide fell on the ground, destroying the remaining trees and vegetation. The erosion that followed caused total devastation in the 1920s. Since these often reckless times, improved technology and an awareness of the need to protect and preserve the environment have led to the reduction of harmful waste emissions. Government officials have set limits on these emissions.

Tangible proof of this interest in protecting and recovering the environment is Inco's superpile, which now dominates the skyline of the Sudbury region. With over 21,000 cubic yards (16,000 cubic meters) of concrete and a height of 1,250 feet (381 meters), the "superstack" represents an investment of $ 25 million. Minimize sulfur dioxide concentrations at ground level, keeping gases in the air for as long as possible and diluting them by horizontal and vertical dispersion. The gases are conducted into the chimney through a steel smoke system almost two-thirds of a mile long. This occurs at speeds of up to 88 kilometers per hour and at a maximum temperature of 390 degrees Celsius.

Evidence of the effectiveness of various efforts to reduce pollution and recover damaged areas can be seen in the hundreds of acres of grass and rye that now thrive in what were once large landfills. Insects and animals return, while geese and ducks can be seen using small ponds for foundry areas. It is good to see men making efforts to preserve the natural beauty given by God in exchange for the material benefits of the riches of the earth.

The development of more and more mines for the production of nickel and associated metals has had a significant impact on people and the environment. Millions of people around the world have enriched their lives by developing some of the many uses for nickel. Are there other physical and chemical secrets in the rocks of the Earth's crust? Time will tell us.