A process for manufacturing nickel chloride is disclosed which is used as the raw material for manufacturing Zn--Ni coated steel plates, for electroless Ni plating industries, for electronic components, and for a high purity chemical additive Ni powder. That is, the invention discloses a process for manufacturing high purity nickel chloride (NiCl.sub.2) by utilizing a waste nickel anode which is obtained from an electroplating factory of a steel manufacturing plant. The process for manufacturing high purity nickel chloride includes the steps of: pre-treating a waste nickel anode to remove impurities adhered on the surface thereof; working the pre-treated waste nickel anode so as to provide an increased specific surface area; putting the worked waste nickel anode into an aqueous hydrochloric acid solution of 10-35% so as for the equivalence ratios of Ni, HCl and NiCl.sub.2 to be 1.0 or more, and dissolving the worked waste nickel anode at a reaction temperature of 20.degree.-80 C. so as to form an aqueous nickel chloride solution; passing the aqueous nickel chloride solution through a filter to remove insoluble materials; injecting an oxidizing gas such as air into an impurity treating tank with the pH level maintained at 2-5 so as to form Fe and Cr ions into a sludge, and carrying out a filtering; and adding an Ni powder in the amount of 0.1-2 g/l into the aqueous nickel chloride solution to remove heavy metal ions.