Nickel carbonates are used in some ceramic applications and as precursors to catalysts.

Nickel is precipitated as nickel carbonate, NiCO3.

Another hydrometallurgical routes is the Caron process, which consists of roasting followed by ammonia leaching and precipitation as nickel carbonate.

Hellyerite, NiCO 6(HO), is an hydrated nickel carbonate mineral.

Otwayite, NiCO(OH), is a hydrated nickel carbonate mineral.

Basic nickel carbonate can be made by treating solutions of nickel sulfate with sodium carbonate, shown here for the basic carbonate:

Minerals such as gaspeite, hellyerite, otwayite, widgiemoolthalite and related hydrous nickel carbonates are diagnostic of nickel gossans, but are exceedingly rare.

Aqueous solutions of nickel sulfate reacts with sodium carbonate to precipitate nickel carbonate, a precursor to nickel-based catalysts and pigments.

It is found in association with theoprastite, hellyerite, gaspeite and a suite of other nickel carbonate minerals in the Lord Brassey Mine, Tasmania.

Zaratite is a bright emerald green and questionable nickel carbonate mineral with formula NiCO(O H) 4 HO.

Nickel carbonates are hydrolyzed upon contact with aqueous acids to give solutions containing the ion [Ni(HO)], liberating water and carbon dioxide in the process.

Kambaldaite is not reported from the Tasmanian or New South Wales nickel carbonate occurrences because it is a supergene carbonate mineral and not a hydrothermal mineral.

The environment of formation, associated only with metamorphosed ultramafic rocks, is diagnostic compared with gaspeite, another nickel carbonate which is associated with supergene weathering of nickel sulfides.

Gaspeite, a very rare nickel carbonate mineral, with the formula (Ni,Fe,Mg)CO, is named for the place it was first described, in the Gaspé Peninsula, Québec, Canada.

From the industrial perspective, the most important nickel carbonate is basic nickel carbonate with the formula NiCO(OH)(HO).

Nickel carbonate, though not conclusively proven to be gaspeite, is also reported in hydrothermally altered ultramafic rocks in New South Wales, Australia, associated with serpentinite bodies and lode gold deposits.

In addition to metallic nickel, commercially important nickel compounds include nickel carbonate, nickel carbonyl, nickel chloride, nickel nitrate, nickel oxide, nickel sulphate, and nickel sulphide (Brecher et al., 1989).