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Nornickel’s plant within its first year commissions entire technological chain

The Bystrinsky mining and processing plant within its first year commissioned the entire technological chain’s products

CHITA, October 31. /TASS/. The Bystrinsky mining and processing plant, which Nornickel (the Norilsk Nickel Company) built in Transbaikalia and put operational on October 31, 2017, within its first year commissioned the entire technological chain’s products, the Bystrinskoye Mining Company’s Press Secretary Konstantin Veresov told TASS on Wednesday.

"The Bystrinsky plant (GOK) has begun making all products of its technological chain," he said. "Those products are copper, iron ore and gold-containing concentrates."

He also noted that the production site, built within three and a half years, is highly technological, and most processes are automatic there.

"This is the only plant in the country where manual labor is absolutely not used in uploading concentrate into cars," he continued. "The plant, which takes one of the leading positions in Russia in terms of its up-to-date equipment, solves production problems most effectively."

The Bystrinsky Mining and Processing plant is located in Transbaikalia’s Gazimuro-Zavodsky district, about 500 km from the region's center - Chita. Its construction began in 2013. After reaching the designed capacity, the plant will produce annually about 3 million tons of magnetite (iron ore) concentrate, 260,000 tonnes of copper concentrate and 252,000 troy ounces of gold. The plant’s target markets are Russia and China, as well as Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Earlier in October, the Norilsk Nickel Company’s President Vladimir Potanin said that in 2020 the company would eye the plant’s IPO, based on its results in the first half of 2019.