Strong increase in Kola nickel production
The nickel plants in the Kola Peninsula now process more ore than the ones in Norilsk.
Figures from Norilsk Nickel’s annual report shows that nickel production in the Kola Peninsula in 2015 increased by 18 percent, while it decreased by 21 percent in Taymyr. That makes Murmansk the company’s top ore processing region.
The Kola production in 2015 amounted to 125,100 tons, while the plants in Taymyr produced 96,916 tons, the company information shows.
Nickel processing in the Kola Peninsula has not been on this high level for at least 15 years.
Company’s production increase
Norilsk Nickel is world leader in nickel production. It has its main production facilities in Taymyr in Western Siberia and in the Kola Peninsula, where processing is operated by subsidiary Kola GMK. Regional operations are concentrated around the towns of Monchegorsk and in Pechenga.
It is the processing plant in Monchegorsk which is prime object in the company’s production increase. The plants refine nickel matte to nickel which is subsequently shipped to the markets.
As previously reported, Norilsk Nickel is in the process of improving infrastructure and logistics in order to facilitate shipments from Taymyr to Murmansk. The company port in Murmansk will in the course of 2016 be developed to handle 1,5 million tons.
Norilsk Nickel has for decades shipped major volumes of ore from Norilsk to the Kola Peninsula. However, in the post-Soviet period, the company has used primarily local ore in the Kola processing plants.
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