The Nickel Institute
Questions and Answers
March 1, 2004 -- Following, are nine questions and answers that relate to the launch of the Nickel Institute:
1. Why a Nickel Institute?
Nickel plays a valuable, growing and often essential role in modern society. But to secure nickel's role in the future, the nickel industry must ensure that it responds effectively to the sustainable development agenda, including a fully informed consideration of benefits and impacts.
An integrating approach is required from underlying science to applied science to practical technology, with knowledge needed at all stages of the nickel life cycle.
The development and communication of much of this knowledge is the responsibility of the industry association: the Nickel Institute.
In response to these challenges, the existing Nickel Development Institute (NiDI) and Nickel Producers Environmental Research Association (NiPERA) have been working together closely over the past decade. With the ever-increasing significance of the sustainable development agenda, it is now considered the right time to bring all the industry's international activities under a single membership structure and to encourage strategic management across the whole range of the industry's collaborative activity.
Is the Nickel Institute a "new" organisation or just a new name for an old organisation?
In the legal changes that support this restructuring, the Nickel Development Institute has changed its name to the Nickel Institute. As such, the Nickel Institute will continue to honour, and be bound by, all commitments undertaken previously by the Nickel Development Institute.
But the restructuring is more than a simple name change. It is also designed to provide a structure in which the industry's collaborative activities can be better integrated and directed towards the priorities of the future. Changing the name is one step in this. Other, more important steps include developing a membership structure that is capable of attracting a wide support from the industry, and developing a strategic management structure which encourages integrated and efficient action.
2. What is the Nickel Institute mission?
The Nickel Institute's mission is to:
- generate and communicate up-to-date, reliable knowledge about all aspects of nickel that are relevant to
producers, manufacturers, users and political stakeholders;
- engage with major stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of nickel are well understood and that
regulatory requirements of the nickel industry are meaningful, economically-proportionate and scientifically
justified; and
- assist member companies and their customers to undertake actions agreed as a result of this engagement
3. What is the significance of the Nickel Institute logo?
This variant of a m�bius strip, with its hints of the symbol for infinity, tries to reflect three of nickel's
sustainable development themes:
- that nickel products tend to be associated long useful lives, after which they are intensively
recycled,
- that this recyclability means that nickel produced by our members today constitutes a resource for future
generations far into the future, and
- that the key to effective nickel use is a process of continuous knowledge-based innovation.
4. What is meant by the Nickel Institute tagline "Knowledge for a brighter future"?
The Nickel Institute is committed to the generation and communication of high quality, reliable information about all aspects of nickel production and use that are relevant to nickel's role in sustainable development. Effective use of nickel will enable the delivery of cleaner energy, better food, cleaner air, safer transport and a whole range of things needed to secure a better, more sustainable, "brighter" future.
Many of the ways in which nickel delivers these benefits is through its key role in corrosion resistant materials such as stainless steels, nickel plating and chromium-nickel plating. Products made from these materials are usually designed to be bright and attractive; they are also designed to stay bright and attractive. So knowledge that supports such uses of nickel is literally "knowledge for a brighter future".
5. What is NiPERA and does it still exist?
The Nickel Producers Environmental Research Association (NiPERA) commissions and manages science contracts, interacts with science peers and institutions, and interacts with regulatory and other stakeholder groups. It has a high reputation for the generation of peer-reviewed, published work on the human health and environmental science of nickel. NiPERA will continue in this valuable role. But now NiPERA will also be closely integrated into the strategic management structure of the Nickel Institute. Two benefits should follow: that NiPERA's science knowledge will be available to, and will better inform, all the activities of the Institute, and that NiPERA's activities will better reflect the science needs of the strategic planning of the industry.
6. What was NiDI and does it still exist?
The Nickel Institute is the successor to the Nickel Development Institute (NiDI) and will continue industry activities to generate and communicate knowledge to support the current uses and develop the future uses of nickel.
Over the past decade, NiDI's approach to this mission has shown considerable evolutionary change - responding not just to technical change, but also to geographical developments, to changing user information needs and to changing patterns of collaboration with downstream industries and their organisations. The Nickel Institute will continue to anticipate and respond to such changes. It will continue the mission to support and develop future effective and appropriate nickel uses.
7. What are the Nickel Institute's products and how can I get them?
The Nickel Institute, in support of nickel and nickel-containing materials, supports technical information transfer with technical consultants, web-based learning tools and published technical literature. It maintains an extensive web site with technical, sustainable development, health, environment, recycling, product stewardship, and sector-specific information.
www.nickelinstitute.org - for information on all important uses of nickel, including how nickel enables sustainable development.
NiPERA commissions and manages science contracts, interacts with science peers and institutions, and interacts with regulatory and other stakeholder groups.
www.nipera.org - for information on the human health science and environmental science of nickel and nickel compounds
Other Nickel Institute hosted sites:
www.nickelinautos.org - for information on the
effective use of nickel and nickel-containing products in the automobile and related transport industries
www.stainlesswater.org - for information on the effective use of nickel-containing stainless steels in water production, treatment and use
www.stainlessarchitecture.org - for information on the effective use of nickel-containing stainless steels in modern architecture, building and construction
www.hygienicstainless.org - for information on the effective use of nickel-containing stainless steels in the food and beverage industry
www.nickelmagazine.org - for the Nickel Institute's regular magazine reporting new developments in the use of nickel and nickel-containing products
www.nickelforum-eura.org - for the latest information on the Risk Assessment of nickel and certain nickel compounds, currently being undertaken in the European Union.
8. Contacting Nickel Institute offices and staff
Stephen Barnett, President, Nickel
Institute
Dr. Hudson Bates, Executive Director, NiPERA
For contact details for other Nickel Institute managers and staff, click here.
For detailed contact information for our 10 offices (listed below), click here.
| NI Toronto | NI London |
| NI European Technical Centre | NI Australasia |
| NI Japan | NI India |
| NI China | NI Korea |
| NI Brazil | NiPERA |
9. What companies are members of the Nickel Institute?
Anglo American Brasil
Anglo Platinum, South Africa
BHP Billiton, Australia
Bochemie S.R.O., Czech Republic
Consolidated Minerals Limited, Austria
Eramet, France
European Nickel PLC, U.K.
Gladstone Pacific Nickel, Australia
Glencore International, Switzerland
JFE Mineral Company, Japan
JSC MMC Norilsk Nickel, Russia
Jubilee Mines N.L., Australia
Minara Resources, Australia
Nippon Yakin Kogyo, Japan
Pacific Metals Co., Japan
P.T. International Nickel, Indonesia
Rio Tinto, South Africa
Sherritt International, Canada
Sumitomo Metal Mining, Japan
Talvivaara Mining, Finland
Umicore, Belgium
Vale Inco, Canada
Xstrata Nickel, Canada
For detailed contact information on these companies, click
here.
