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Kola MMC ecology projects attract investments over $96 million

The company plans to make more effective the sulfuric acid production and will cut gas emissions

MURMANSK, April 11. /TASS/. Investments in ecology projects at the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company (Kola MMC, a part of Nornickel) in the Murmansk Region’s Monchegorsk will make more than 6 billion rubles ($96 million), the company’s press service said on Wednesday.

"Nornickel’s Investment Committee has approved the projects to cut emissions and to improve the ecology situation at Kola MMC’s facilities in Monchegorsk," the press service said. "The investments will make 6.2 billion rubles ($96.4 million)."

Kola MMC plans to upgrade the 4th technology sulfuric acid separation system, which began working in 2000. This way, the company plans to increase the volume of recyclable gases. In fact, this will be the construction of a new system with bigger capacity to process sulfur dioxide - by more than one and a half times. New up-to-date equipment’s all metal pipelines, gas ducts and acid collectors will be replaced with new ones made of acid-resistant, durable polymeric materials. The work’s cost is estimated at 3.1 billion rubles ($48.2 million).

Another more than 3 billion rubles will be invested in new precipitators to clean gases from the refinery shop’s furnaces. Under the project, the company will build a new gas cleaning shop. By implementation of these two projects, Kola MMC will make more effective the sulfuric acid production and will cut gas emissions.

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 Kola MMC accounts for 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 a basic part of most superalloys - heat-resistant materials used in the aerospace industry for power machines’ parts. Russia’s one of the biggest deposits of nickel containing ores is in the Murmansk Region.

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