MMC Norilsk Nickel发表评论(0)编辑词条

MMC Norilsk Nickel

MMC Norilsk Nickel

Founded: 30 June 1993
Headquarters:  Moscow
Key people: Alexander Voloshin, Chairman of the Board of Directors;Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, General Director - Chairman of the Management Board
Industry: Mining;Metallurgy
Products:Nickel;Palladium;Copper;Platinum;Gold;Cobalt;Selenium;Tellurium;Rhodium;Silver;Iridium;Ruthenium;Coal Revenue: ~ US$11.8 bn (2008)
Website: http://www.nornik.ru/en/

    MMC Norilsk Nickel (Russian: ГМК «Норильский Никель») is a nickel and palladium mining and smelting company. Its largest operations are located in the Norilsk–Talnakh area, in northern Russia. MMC stands for "Mining and Metallurgical Company".

    Norilsk Nickel is headquartered in Moscow and is the world's leading producer of nickel and palladium. The company is also active in platinum, copper and cobalt. It is ranked among the top four world platinum producers, in association with subsidiary Stillwater Mining Company of Billings, Montana. It is ranked among the top ten copper producers.

    The company is listed on NASDAQ and the RTS Stock Exchange. The key shareholders are Vladimir Potanin's Interros and Oleg Deripaska's Rusal: each reportedly owns over 25% of shares.

History

Mining began in the Norilsk area in the 1920s. The government of the USSR created the "Norilsk Combine" in 1935 and passed control to the NKVD at that time. In 1943 Norilsk produced 4 thousand tons of refined nickel and in 1945 hit the target figure of ten thousand tons. 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, that was bleeding cash at a rate of about two million dollars a day amid falling nickel prices, was given to a private company called Interros. By the time the privatization was completed in 1997, the company became profitable and the workers were paid. Nowadays average pay is over a thousand dollars per month and workers enjoy two to three months of vacations; nevertheless, working and living conditions in Norilsk remain harsh.

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.

During 2007, Norilsk has 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 in $6.4 billion US) is the biggest acquisition by a Russian company abroad so far. It makes Norilsk Nickel the world's largest nickel producer.

Operations

The nickel deposits of Norilsk-Talnakh are without doubt the largest nickel-copper-palladium deposits in the world. 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 sulphur, forming globules of pentlandite, chalcopyrite, and other sulphides. These sulphides 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 intrusion exceeds 1.8 billion tons.

The ore is mined underground via several shafts, and a decline. The ore deposits are currently being extracted at >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.
Production divisions

The company currently has six 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)
Stillwater Mining Company
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 Australia, which owns several mines and facilities in the western part of the country, all of them currently "suspended for an indefinite period of time due to the deteriorated economic environment".
Competition

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