Abstract: The domestic Ni consumption in China is high while annual domestic Ni production remains insufficient to meet the demand of a growing market. To appraise the Ni mineral resource potential and to facilitate Ni mineral exploration and production, the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources launched the National Mineral Resources Assessment Initiative during 20062013. Under this initiative, geological features and temporospatial distribution of different Ni prediction types were investigated, and key prediction factors involving geology, geophysics, geochemistry and remote sensing were incorporated to establish the prediction model, which can be used to aid mineral exploration. The findings demonstrated: (1) China has three types of nickel depositsthe magmatic, weathering crust and marine sedimentary types, of which the magmatic type account for 93% of total Ni resources; (2) 30 nickel metallogenic belts can be recognized, including 13 important ones concentrated in western China; (3) Key prediction factors vary between different deposit types, such that the maficultramafic complex, weathering crust above ultramafic rock and lower Cambrian black shale series are key prediction factors for the magmatic, weathering crust, and sedimentary Ni ore deposits, respectively; (4) 524 regions are identified as minimum Ni prediction areas, with additional 98 levelⅢ Ni prediction areas, including 35 with total resources above 10 thousand tons; and (5) The confirmed cumulative Ni reserves and predicted Ni resource amount to 13.45 and 28.20 million tons, respectively.

Key words: magmatic nickel deposit, weathering crust nickel deposit, sedimentary nickel deposit, prediction model, mineral prediction