Singapore 29/08/2016 - Nornickel – a recently rebranded Norilsk Nickel – said last Friday its outdated nickel plant in the city of Norilsk in Russia has been fully decommissioned two months ahead of schedule.
The decommissioning of the plant launched in 1942 had started since February 1, 2016. The company had shut down the agglomeration facilities of the plant on June 10 and the smelting and roasting shops on June 27. Production at its nickel refining workshop was idled on August 17.
The company’s total refined metal production capacity will be unaffected by the shutdown as production facilities at Kola in Russia and Harjavalta in Finland are modernised and expanded correspondingly, said Nornickel which is the world's largest nickel producer.
Nornickel had held discussions with the London Metal Exchange about delisting relevant brands – Norilsk Combine H-1 and Norilsk Combine H-1Y - due to the closure of the nickel plant.
But it has been decided that delisting will be differed due to the significant off-warrant stocks of these brands, and in particular the size of such stocks in comparison to total warranted nickel stocks, the LME said last Friday.
“The exchange will continue to keep this situation under review, and intends eventually to proceed to delisting when it considers this may be achieved in an orderly manner,” LME said. Any such move to delist will be accompanied by at least 90 days of notice.
Nornickel is holding similar talks with the Shanghai Futures Exchange later in September.
Nornickel is aiming to produce 206,000-212,000 tonnes for nickel from Russian feeds this year.