Highlights of 2025

The Company celebrated its 90th anniversary. The celebrations took place on 20 July, Metallurgist’s Day, which is traditionally considered the Company Day. Anniversary events were held across all Nornickel units from Chita to Saint Petersburg.

A partnership agreement was signed with BELAZ holding company to manufacture mining equipment and provide after‑sale servicing. As early as in September, the first BELAZ load‑haul‑dump machine was put into service at Nornickel.

A major upgrade programme was successfully implemented in the Energy Division. Revamp of power units was completed at CHPPs in the Arctic, along with the bulk of the retrofit work on the Kureyskaya HPP’s dam. The two projects will boost the performance of the respective assets and reduce their environmental impact.

Upgrade of passenger terminal facilities commenced at Norilsk Airport. The project envisages a modern terminal meeting all safety and comfort standards.

The Company presented its Palladium Centre at the Future Technologies Forum. Nornickel’s Palladium Centre represents a new development paradigm. It focuses on the development, testing, commercialisation, and market launch of new palladium-based materials. The goal is to create 100 new materials by 2030. Currently, the portfolio includes 25 products.

The first rich ore body was stripped at the Glubokaya mine at the 1,650 m level. At present, these are the deepest mine levels in Eurasia. Nornickel started developing a new mine level at a depth of 1,756 m. This marks a key milestone in the development of the mine, which is expected to reach an annual output of up to 2.2 mln t of ore. According to preliminary estimates, the discovered mineral reserves will last until 2050.

Hundreds of thousands of sturgeon fingerlings were released into the Yenisei River. The fish stocking project for the Yenisei River, implemented under a cooperation agreement with the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery, plans to release 510 million juvenile fish of valuable species – including sturgeon, muksun, broad whitefish, whitefish, and nelma – into water bodies of the Norilo‑Pyasinskaya lake and river system between 2033 and 2050.

An air monitoring system integrating data from 11 stations was launched in Monchegorsk. It is an advanced digital platform providing round‑the‑clock air quality monitoring. The collected data are processed and published in real time on the Monchegorsk administration’s website.

A new gas cleaning system with high dust‑collection efficiency was launched in the refining shop in Monchegorsk. This is expected to result in an additional reduction of sulphur dioxide emissions by 1 kt per year, after reaching its design capacity. In addition to the environmental benefits, the new system will also deliver an additional economic effect as non‑ferrous metals captured through dust recovery are recycled.

The first solar power plant with a capacity of 571 kW came online in the Trans‑Baikal Division. Over 1 thousand solar modules with a capacity of 565 W each were installed across roughly one hectare.

Cobalt production was relaunched following reconstruction, making the Company Russia’s leading producer of high‑grade electrolytic cobalt. Its production capacity is up to 3 ktpa at 99.9% purity.