Nickel is one of the first resources you'll need to gather. Nickel ores can be found in ore boulders or underground. Similar to iron, nickel is most commonly located deep underground, particularly where deepslate begins to appear.
This versatile metal is used in several alloys and is essential for crafting most machines and machine parts.
Processing raw nickel (or nickel ore) in a fragment forge is an excellent way to obtain some platinum.