Nornickel

Mining began in the Norilsk area in the 1920s. The Soviet government created the "Norilsk Combine" in 1935 and passed control to the NKVD. In 1943, Norilsk produced 4,000 tonnes of refined nickel and in 1945 hit the target figure of 10,000 tonnes. Mining and metal production continued first with Gulag forced labour, later with much volunteer labour owing to the comparatively good wages offered.

In 1993 after the fall of the Soviet Union a joint-stock company was created, RAO Norilsk Nickel. Two years afterwards control over the deeply indebted company, which was bleeding cash at a rate of about $2,000,000 a day amid falling nickel prices, was given to a private company, Interros. By the time the privatization was completed in 1997, the company became profitable and the workers were paid. Nowadays average pay is over $1,000 per month and workers enjoy two to three months of vacations; nevertheless, working and living conditions in Norilsk remain harsh.

In July 2000 at the St. Petersburg Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic (Russian: Арктический и антарктический научно-исследовательский институт), Norilsk Nickel investigated using decommissioned nuclear powered submarines, both from the United States and Russia, to transport materials along the Northern Sea Route (Russian: Северный морской путь (Севморпуть)) between the Yenesei and elsewhere.[9]

With a cost of $72–80 million per Typhoon submarine overhaul and refit, refitted decommissioned Typhoon submarines, which, after overhaul and refit, would have a modified ice breaking bow capable of breaking ice up to 215 cm (85 in) thick in seawater and up to 150 cm (59 in) in the freshwater mouth of the Yenisei, were thought to be able to transport up to 12,000 tonnes of supplies and nickel between Dudinka and either Murmansk or Arkhangelsk.[9] The Murmansk Shipping Company (MMP or MSCO) (Russian: Мурманское морское пароходство) has been providing icebreakers to support ships transporting supplies and nickel with a market value of $11.35 per tonne of nickel.[9] Three submarines, which would be needed for the project to be feasible, would be undergoing refit and overhaul between 2000 and 2003.[9]

However, no agreement could be reached over who would perform the refit and overhaul of the submarines, nor who would own and control the submarines (Defense, MMP, or Nornickel), nor who would pay for the cost of the overhaul and refit which Anatoly Gorshkovsky, the head of the Northern Sea Route administration in the Russian Ministry of Transport, suggested to Interfax that the state (either a Russian Federal Ministry or Defense), MMP, and Nornickel should all contribute funds.[9] There is no agreement between the United States and Russia to use United States-built submarines nor to use nuclear-powered submarines for transporting supplies.[9]

In 2002, Nornickel was the largest volume of shipping for the Murmansk Shipping Company along the Northern Sea Route.[10]

Starting in 2002, MMC Norilsk Nickel began purchasing gold mining assets, which were spun off in 2005 as Polyus Gold.

In 2003, the company took control of Stillwater Mining Company, the only US producer of palladium. Stillwater operates a platinum group metals (PGM) facility in Stillwater, Montana in the USA. In November 2010, Norilsk Nickel announced that it was selling Stillwater.[11]

During 2007, Norilsk acquired a host of mining and metallurgical assets abroad, transforming itself into a multinational with operations in Australia, Botswana, Finland, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. The key deal was completed on June 28, 2007, when Norilsk Nickel acquired about 90 per cent of Canada's LionOre Mining International Ltd, the world's 10th-largest nickel producer at the time. This takeover, valued at US$ 6.4 billion, is the biggest acquisition abroad by a Russian company, making Norilsk Nickel the world's largest nickel producer.[12][13]

On 27 February 2008, Norilsk Nickel through North Star LLC diversified into the coal mining industry by obtaining mining rights for 33.6 million rubles to the estimated 5.7 billion tonnes at the Syradasai Field near the port of Dixon (Russian: Диксон) in Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District (Russian: Таймыр).[5][14][15] In the coal mining industry, it competes with Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.[5] North Star LLC (Russian: ООО «Северная звезда»), a firm affiliated with Norilsk Nickel or Nornickel, will develop the field with $1.5 billion in improvements at the Port of Dixon on Cape Chaika (Russian: мыса Чайка) from Nornickel, which owns the port.[5]

The only competitor for the rights to the Syradasai Field was from the Golevskaya Mining Company LLC (Russian: ООО «Голевская горнорудная компания»).[14] The Syradasai Field is 105 to 120 km southeast of Dixon in the Taimyr-Turukhansk support zone (Russian: Таймыро-Туруханской опорной зоны).[15][16] A 120 km road and railway will be built to connect the deep-sea port on Cape Chaika to the massive coal deposit by 2019.[15] CC VostokUgol (Russian: УК «ВостокУголь») or Vostok Coal will export up to 10 million tonnes of coal annually from the open pit mine to Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions.[16][17]

Nornikel has been ranked as the 17th best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on indigenous rights and resource extraction in the Arctic.[18]

The Norilsk Nickel plant in Nikel

False-color satellite image of Norilsk and the surrounding area

The nickel deposits of Norilsk-Talnakh are the largest nickel-copper-palladium deposits in the world.[19] The deposit was formed 250 million years ago during the eruption of the Siberian Traps igneous province (STIP). The STIP erupted over one million cubic kilometres of lava, a large portion of it through a series of flat-lying lava conduits lying below Norilsk and the Talnakh Mountains. The Siberian Traps are considered to be responsible for the mass extinction event at the end of the Permian.

The ore was formed when the erupting magma became saturated in sulfur, forming globules of pentlandite, chalcopyrite, and other sulfides. These sulfides were then "washed" by the continuing torrent of erupting magma, and upgraded their tenor with nickel, copper, platinum, and palladium. The current resource known for these mineralised intrusions exceeds 1.8 billion tonnes.

The ore is mined underground via several shafts, and a decline. The ore deposits are currently being extracted at greater than 1,200 m below ground. The ore deposits are drilled from the surface.

The deposits are being explored using electromagnetic field geophysics, with detection loops on the Earth's surface with dimensions of over 1,000 m on a side. They are conclusively able to image the conduction nickel ore at depths in excess of 1,800 m.

The company currently has five main operational divisions:

• The Polar Division of MMC Norilsk Nickel and ancillary activities, located in the Taimyr Peninsula
• Kola MMC, and ancillary activities, located in the Kola Peninsula (incorporating the Pechenganickel and Severonickel Combines, the former in Nikel City and Zapolyarny, the latter in Monchegorsk)
• Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta, Finland's only nickel refining plant, purchased from OM Group in 2007
• Norilsk Nickel Africa, which includes stakes in mines in Botswana (85% of Tati Nickel) and in South Africa (50% of Nkomati), both formerly owned by LionOre

Norilsk Nickel is known as one of Russia's most polluting companies, releasing approximately 1.67m tonnes of harmful sulphur dioxide every year into the air, according to 2018 figures.[20]

Ore is smelted on site in Norilsk. The smelting is directly responsible for severe pollution, including acid rain and smog. It is estimated that Norilsk facilites emit 1.86 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide to the atmosphere annually, 1.9% percent of global emissions.[21]

The pollution originating from the Kola division of the company is also affecting Norway,[22] which has, since 1990, offered financial support to clean up the operation. Due to a number of factors, however, this has not materialized.

2007 - Rosprirodnadzor (Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia) took water samples in Norilsk as part of the check up. The check up was initiated by the group of the city dwellers who filed the petition claiming deterioration of water quality due to industrial activity of NN branch in this city. Newspaper Kommersant was informed by Oleg Mitvol, the Chairman of Rosprirodnadzor, that results of the water tests were expected to be ready by the end of August. Company official said in their comment that NN spent over 19 bln roubles on environmental activity and 1 billion more will be spent till 2015. When asked by the reporter if Norilsk Nickel can suffer any consequences after the results of the check up, the state official said that he won't make any promises or predictions.[23][24][25]

The environmental problems at Norilsk stretch back over decades, but in the last 10 years when current NN management came to power it did not get much better. Back in 2004 M. Prokhorov claimed that NN will be able to resolve most of ecological problems in the area within 5–6 years. By 2008 this timeline moved to 2011 or 2015. However, NN claims to be a socially responsible business and invests in modernization.

Norilsk Nickel has worked consistently to reduce emissions of major air pollutants. In 2006, the company reported investment of more than US$5m to maintain and overhaul its dust and gas recovery and removal systems. It asserts a commitment of nearly US$1.4m for its air pollution prevention plan. However, official statistics state that emissions remain extremely high. In 2006, international non-for-profit organization Blacksmith Institute declared Norilsk Nickel one of the top-10 most polluted places in the world.[26] NN wrote a protest letter but state of affairs was left unchanged. Local environmental experts report that although there have been some reductions in pollution levels, levels of SO₂, HS, phenol, formaldehyde, but dust had increased; levels of nickel and copper had increased by 50%. Morbidity rates are stable and death rates are decreasing.

In September Rosprirodnadzor stated that NN significantly exceeds allowed concentrations of polluters in open water reservoirs (river Shuchya, river Novaya Nalednaya and others) located near industrial enterprises of NN objects. Also the agency stated very serious violations of temporary norms for certain polluting substances.[27]

Nevertheless, there were no measures taken against NN. At the end of December the company issued a press release on cooperation with Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostekhnadzor) and Norilsk Nickel signed a protocol of cooperation with regard to industrial safety and environment protection in the development of the Company's operations.

In 2010, Vladimir Putin visited Norilsk and complained about the pollution, threatening a “significant increase in environmental fines” if the company did not modernise its plant. By 2013, owner Vladimir Potanin had begun to invest in environmental measures. In June 2016, Norilsk shut down one of its factories, which was emitting 380,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide every year, 25% of the total of sulfur emissions in the city, in an effort to clean up its environmental record.[28][26] It also said it would invest £3.5bn to modernise manufacturing by 2020.[26]

At the end of 2016, Nornickel signed a major contract worth $1.7 billion with Canadian company SNC-Lavalin, to install sulfur dioxide filtration and storage technologies on its plant in Norilsk,[29] in what is said to be one of the largest environmental projects of its kind. Once complete in 2020, sulfur emissions will be cut by up to 75% as a result of the work done.[30]

In April 2018, amid rising pressure from the Russian government and Western investment funds, the company announced it would be investing in a US$1bn processing plant, which would convert sulphur dioxide produced during the metal smelting process into gypsum. The plant will be finished in 2022 in order to meet obligations to reduce its harmful emissions by 75% or risk financial fines 100 times higher than the ones at the time.[20]

In 2019, it was reported that the group's total environmental protection expenditure rocketed by 117.9%. The cornerstone of Nornickel's £20 billion environmental programme is the $2.5bn 'Sulphur Project' aimed at recycling toxic SO2 emissions, cutting those emissions by 75% by 2023 in its hometown of Nickel. The project will help capture 1.5 to 1.7 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide per year and recycle those emissions into marketable products. [31] In November 2019 Norilsk Nickel announced plans to cut sulphur dioxide emissions in the region by 90% by 2025 from 2015 levels.[32]

Gipronickel Institute, in St Petersburg performs the design and construction of Norilsk's facilities. Gipronickel does research in every field of metallurgy, including extraction, patenting, design and more.

Norilsk Nickel uses the port of Dudinka to load nickel and palladium on ships for export.

Interros Holding Company, based in Moscow, is the controlling shareholder of Norilsk.

In partnership with Argosy Minerals of Australia, Norilsk attempted to operate Nakety/Bogota, a nickel mine on the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Norilsk has withdrawn from this project.

Vale Inco, BHP and Anglo Platinum are important competitors to Norilsk in the production of nickel and of palladium.

Company fleet provides sea transportation of cargo and concentrates from Norilsk to ports with rail connections. In 2008 Norilsk Nickel ordered five new ice-breaking cargo freighters.[40]

• Nickel mining and extraction
• Copper mining and extraction
• Emily Ann and Maggie Hays nickel mines
• London Platinum and Palladium Market
• London Metal Exchange

• The Moscow Times: Norilsk Nickel withdraws from Nakety Bogota project
• MBendi's MMC Norilsk Nickel information page
• The Metallurgical Complex at Norilsk in Siberia
• JSC MMC Norilsk Nickel Company History
• Russian metals firm admits spillage turned river blood red The Guardian, 2016.