Our History
In recent years, Nornickel has become the leader in Russia’s metals and mining industry, a reliable social partner and one of the world’s largest producers of palladium and high-grade nickel.
Construction of the Norilsk Metallurgical Plant was launched in the Monchetundra.
The first batch of converter matte was produced. By late 1953, Norilsk Plant produced
New deposits developed and new facilities put online
Major sulphide deposits of copper-nickel ores of the Talnakh deposit were discovered, giving a new lease on life to Norilsk Plant. The construction of mines and the town of Talnakh started on the Taimyr Peninsula. The first batch of carbonyl nickel was produced at Severonickel Plant on the Kola Peninsula.
Komsomolsky, Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky Mines were launched; Talnakh Concentrator and Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant were commissioned. Severonickel Plant celebrated first production of electrolytic copper.
Company transformation
In 1993, the Company was transformed into RJSC Norilsk Nickel and privatised. In 2001, the Company was restructured, with shareholders of RJSC Norilsk Nickel exchanging 96.9% of their stock to shares in PJSC MMC NORILSK NICKEL. The Company shares started trading on the RTS and MICEX stock exchanges, and first American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) were issued in June.
Implementing a new strategy
Vladimir Potanin and his new management team took the helm of the Company. The Board of Directors adopted a new long-term development strategy focused on world-class assets of the Polar Division and Kola MMC. Bystrinsky GOK, the largest greenfield project in the Russian metals industry, was constructed from scratch in the Zabaykalsky Territory. At that time, a programme was launched to improve the environmental situation across the Company’s footprint, including the shuttering of Nickel Plant in Norilsk, the launch of the Sulphur Project to drastically reduce sulphur dioxide emissions and the closure of obsolete metallurgical facilities in the Murmansk Region.
Environmentally growth strategy
The Company announced a new investment cycle aimed at the comprehensive development of mining assets and the expansion of processing capacities as well as the implementation of its environmentally friendly growth strategy that not only lays out long-term ore production and capital investment targets but also sets out concrete action plans to reduce the Company’s environmental footprint in its regions of operation.
Nornickel in 2022
- Nornickel fully delivered on its production programme, with CAPEX hitting a record USD 4.3 billion.
- Nornickel pioneered the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) procedure in Russia to discuss a relocation programme with indigenous peoples, with FPIC obtained from Tukhard residents.
- Nornickel received equipment for the Sulphur Project and celebrated first production of limestone (23.5 thousand tonnes) from the Mokulayevskoye field. The mine will become the key producer of limestone for the Sulphur Project.
- The Company launched two icebreakers, including a nuclear-powered one, enabling future expansion of transport capacity to cover the needs of the Taimyr Peninsula.
- The Company launched an integrated control unit in Norilsk to monitor the condition of buildings and structures, which tracks the condition of permafrost soils.
- In March, Nornickel sold NordStar Airlines.
- Nornickel reached a settlement agreement with the Federal Agency for Fishery, stipulating that NTEC will ensure full in-kind compensation for accident-related damage to aquatic bioresources by releasing fry into the affected water bodies between 2023 to 2050.
- Nornickel signed an agreement with RusHydro to purchase electricity generated from renewable sources to Trans-Baikal Division. Over the next three years, Bystrinsky GOK plans to switch all its external energy consumption to carbon-free sources leveraging similar contracts and thus unlock significant GHG emission reductions.
