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(Wallace Refiners) – Russia’s Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel and a major producer of platinum and copper, announced Monday that the company has resumed production at the Oktyabrsky mine after successfully dealing with the flood. The mine’s workings have been drained; mining operations are restarting ahead of schedule.
The company said that the plan to restore normal operations has been updated. The Oktyabrsky mine (5.0 mtpa of ore) is expected to resume production in full by the end of April. Today, the mine’s capacity has already reached 60% of the target level. The expected date of production restart at the Taimyrsky mine (4.3 mtpa of ore) remains unchanged and is scheduled for early June.
Nornickel added that its strategy to backfill the entire perimeter of the workings extensively has paid off — water inflow has been stopped. The company is now focused on water discharge and accelerated production restart in compliance with all industrial safety and environmental standards.
Nornickel will announce an updated metal output guidance for FY 2021 once the plan to step up safety and reliability of the Norilsk Concentrator has been finalised.
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