NOVELTY - Forming methane-enriched raw product gas stream and nickel product stream involves forming catalyzed carbonaceous feedstock from non-gaseous nickel-based carbonaceous material and alkali metal hydromethanation catalyst; reacting feedstock in hydromethanation reactor, then withdrawing the methane-enriched stream and solid by-product char stream; treating char stream to form nickel-based alkali metal-depleted char stream and aqueous alkali metal-enriched stream; recycling portion of aqueous alkali-metal enriched stream; treating alkali metal-depleted char stream and recovering nickel.    USE - For generating a methane-enriched raw product gas stream and a nickel product stream (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method is improved process for hydromethanating vanadium-containing carbonaceous feedstocks to methane-enriched raw product gases, which processes integrate nickel recovery as well.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Generating a methane-enriched raw product gas stream and a nickel product stream from a non-gaseous nickel-containing carbonaceous material, involves: preparing a catalyzed carbonaceous feedstock from the nickel-containing carbonaceous material and an alkali metal hydromethanation catalyst comprising a recycle catalyst and a makeup catalyst; introducing the catalyzed carbonaceous feedstock into a hydromethanation reactor; reacting the catalyzed carbonaceous feedstock in the hydromethanation reactor in the presence of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and steam to produce a methane-enriched raw product gas and a solid by-product char; withdrawing a stream of the methane-enriched raw product gas from the hydromethanation reactor as methane-enriched raw product gas stream comprising methane, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, steam and heat energy; withdrawing a stream of the solid by-product char from the hydromethanation reactor, where the withdrawn solid by-product char comprises carbon and an inorganic ash containing an alkali metal content and a nickel content; treating the withdrawn solid by-product char to generate an alkali metal-depleted char stream comprising portion of the nickel content, and an aqueous alkali metal-enriched stream comprising water-soluble alkali metal compounds, where the aqueous alkali metal-enriched stream comprises at least a predominant portion of the alkali metal content of the withdrawn solid by-product char; recycling at least a portion of the aqueous alkali-metal enriched stream for use as the recycle catalyst; treating the alkali metal-depleted char stream to generate a nickel-enriched stream and a nickel-depleted char stream, where the enriched stream comprises at least a predominant portion of the nickel content; and recovering at least a predominant portion of the nickel from the nickel-enriched stream as the nickel product stream.