Kola Peninsula

Kola MMC produces disseminated copper-nickel sulphide ores containing nickel, copper and other commercial components.

It leverages various ore mining methods:

• the Zhdanovskoye Deposit uses sublevel longwall caving with front ore passes, block caving (limited scope of application), and open-pit mining (at Yuzhny open pit);
• the Kotselvaara and Semiletka Deposits primarily use stoping from sublevel drifts and sublevel caving, as well as room-and-pillar short-hole and long-hole stoping (limited scope of application).

Concentration facilities

• Zapolyarny Concentrator.

The Concentrator produces briquetted copper-nickel concentrate. Briquettes are delivered to Smelting Shop to produce converter matte.

Smelting facilities

• Smelting Shop (Nickel)
• Briquetting section (Zapolyarny)
• Metallurgical Shop (Monchegorsk)
• Refining Shop (Monchegorsk)
• Tankhouses 1 and 2 (Monchegorsk)

The Company is upgrading Tankhouse 2 to create a nickel cathode production unit harnessing the technology of nickel electrowinning from chlorine dissolved tube furnace nickel powder. The project is set to boost the Company’s production capacity from 120 ktpa to 145 ktpa of electrolytic nickel while also improving the recovery rates by 1%. In late 2018, Norilsk Nickel commissioned the first series of electrolysis cells, with the project expected to reach its design capacity by the end of 2019.