I picked out a few key paragraphs below, but the whole article in the first link is a good read.

A perfect storm is brewing. The nickel pig iron (NPI) reduced the price of nickel. 

The Chinese initiated a materials revolution around the middle of the past decade in response to nickel’s  run to more than $50,000 a ton in 2007. They created the cheap alternative called Nickel pig iron.(NPI).

The resulting crappy price of nickel .did a lot of damage to exploration and to existing mining companies.

But ,with the EV market to explode....the Nickel pig iron is ..not suited for nickel sulfate powder by the battery folks.

So what to do? With the low nickel price how do you provide an incentive to ramp up production, and exploration of nickel to get it ready for the high demand that will come from  the EV battery folks.

A decision will come by the end of this year from the (London Metal Exchange)LME. It looks like nickel may be split into two different entities, and we may see a new contract for nickel sulfate....and a decision will be made before the end of the year.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nickel-evs-ahome/why-electric-vehicles-could-fracture-the-nickel-market-home-idUSKCN1GK2EP

The problem is that none of this material is suited for production of the nickel sulfate powder desired by battery makers.

It’s not impossible to transform NPI into sulfate, but it’s neither economical nor logical. As a result, to quote Wood Mackenzie, “about half of global nickel production is not available” for battery usage...

The coming electric vehicle revolution opens up a whole new schism between nickel in metallic form and in chemical form.

Premiums for chemical nickel are already diverging as battery makers have to pull extra units from the stainless or super-alloy process streams.

The obvious outcome is for the nickel market to split into two distinct entities, and the LME has already indicated it is considering launching a new contract for nickel sulfate. The exchange is also, by the way, studying a cobalt sulfate contract for exactly the same reason.

Because right now the “nickel market” is still in lock step with its traditional stainless steel demand base. That base is actively working against the efficient evolution of a separate supply chain stream to feed battery demand.

The tensions are growing all the time. The EV story is a strong, slow-burn bull case for higher nickel prices. Nickel sulfate prices, not nickel pig iron prices.

=================================================================https://www.woodmac.com/press-releases/2018-nickel-outlook/

Meanwhile, the LME, recognising the price pressure now falling on consumers of nickel chemicals, is assessing the feasibility of introducing new contracts dedicated to nickel (and cobalt) sulphate. A decision will come this year for a 2019 launch. As we wait for this to become a reality, we can expect continued disparity between the market conditions for melting grade nickel products and those for plating/battery chemicals, as reflected in regional spot premiums.

=============================================================

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-geneva-daimler-batteries/daimlers-rd-chief-sees-nickel-rich-batteries-gaining-traction-idUSKCN1GI2KG

“The main trend is toward Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt (NMC),” Kaellenius said, referring to nickel manganese and cobalt.“We saw a mix of 1:1:1 then we went to 6:2:2 and now some suppliers are even talking about 9:05:05,” Kaellenius said of the ratio of materials."