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Kola MMC invests $2.53 million in Monchegorsk plant’s modernization

The reconstruction is due to be over by the yearend

TASS, May 11. The Kola MMC (a part of the Norilsk Nickel Company, Nornickel) will modernize the electricity supplies system at its divisions in the Murmansk Region’s Monchegorsk. The project for 2018, where investments are 156 million rubles ($2.53 million), will improve reliability of the industrial facilities’ electricity supplies, the company’s press service said.

"In Monchegorsk, the Kola MMC has finished the first stage of reconstructing the distributing substation, and the reconstruction is due to be over by the yearend," the company said. "Nornickel’s investments in the substation’s modernization will make more than 156 million rubles."

According to the company, the substation is playing an important role in the production process at the Monchegorsk industrial area. It has been working since 1982. Meanwhile, the equipment is outdated, and the spare parts are not available any longer.

The reconstruction project is very important for the Kola MMC as the company has been implementing a major investment project to have nickel production in Monchegorsk use a highly effective technology of electric extraction, which uses big amounts of chlorine. The project’s cost is more than 20 billion rubles ($320 million). It will cut the operation costs, will improve the product’s quality and will cut impact on the environment.

The Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company is a leading production complex in the Murmansk Region - a major producer of non-ferrous metals, including strategic metals. The company is the world’s biggest nickel refining enterprise and Russia’s only producer of electrolytic cobalt of highest grades. The Kola MMC produces 39% of nickel and 42% of cobalt the Norilsk Nickel Company produces. The products are supplied to the domestic market and exported to European countries.

Nickel is the basis of most super-alloys for heat-resistant materials, which are used in the aerospace industry for power machines’ parts. Russia’s one of the largest deposits of nickel ores is in the Murmansk region.