Singapore 01/08/2016 - Nickel metal production from Nornickel – a rebranded Norilsk Nickel – fell 9 percent year-on-year to 57,942 tonnes in the second quarter of this year, the world’s largest nickel producer said.
This took its nickel production in the first half of the year to 121,573 tonnes, down 7 percent from the same period last year, according to the Russian producer’s output report released last Friday.
Production had fallen at its Polar and Kola divisions, as well as at Nornickel Finland during the second quarter. Output at the two divisions had fallen due to a decline in processing volumes of rich ore owing to pre-commissioning activities of its Talnakh concentrator upgrade, while Nornickel’s Harjavalta works in Finland had undergone scheduled repairs during the second quarter.
Meanwhile, its copper metal production rose 3 percent year-on-year to 90,186 tonnes in April-June on higher copper content in mined ore. This took first half output to 177,439 tonnes, which is a 3 percent decline from the same period last year.
Nornickel said it remains on track to meet its production target (from Russian feed) of 206,000-212,000 tonnes for nickel and 342,000-352,000 tonnes for copper for this year.