The first living organisms had to make essential carbon-based chemicals, and they may have done it by harnessing the chemical power of metals like nickel
Source:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2240552-earths-first-life-may-have-fuelled-itself-with-a-metal-metabolism/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home