Nickel ores
Nickel ore deposits occur in the Lower Silesian region (map). These are deposits of nickel oxide ores formed in result of weathering of serpentinized ultramafic rocks. The exploitation of the major nickel ore deposit at Szklary in the vicinities of Ząbkowice Śląskie was phased out in 1983 as uneconomic.
Anticipated economic resources of nickel ores have not changed since 2014. These resources (B and C1 category) amounted to 17.21 million tonnes of ores with metallic nickel content of 125.0 thousand tonnes (limiting content of Ni in the deposit is 0.8%). The ore resources of the Grochów deposit were classified as anticipated subeconomic (table 1).
Prognostic resources of Ni-layer silicate type ores in small and separate lenses in serpentinite waste around the Sowie Mts. block gneisses (Lower Silesia) are estimated for ca. 25 thousand tonnes*.
Nickel is also one of accompanying metals in copper ores from the Fore-Sudetic Monocline. The copper deposits yield about 71.11 thousand tonnes of nickel which is recovered in technological processes as nickel sulfides. In 2015, the processing of copper sulfide ores gave 2,967 tonnes of nickel sulfides
Prepared by: Stanisław Z. Mikulski
*Mikulski S.Z., 2011 - Rudy niklu. In: Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r. (ed. S. Wołkowicz, T. Smakowski, S. Speczik): 107-109. PIG-PIB, Warszawa.