MURMANSK, November 16. /TASS/. Modernization projects of the Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) in the Murmansk region, where the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company (Kola MMC, a part of Nornickel) is working, have cut greatly the impact on the nature of the Russian Arctic zone, Kola MMC’s head of the department for scientific-technical development and ecology security Alexander Tukin said on Thursday.
"Our work on the environment protection has been more than just a rush for meeting norms and limits, for cutting emissions and pollutions. We are able to see results, for which this work used to begin. We can see a feedback from the nature - the growing populations of animals and plants, the restoration of rare species, soil re-vegetation and the general restoration of the ecology systems," he said at an international conference in the Murmansk region.
To give examples, he spoke about a few major projects, where modernization was not only for optimizing the production process, but also for improvement of the environmental situation. For example, the new crushing equipment and optimization of ore processing, including the use of new effective reagents, have improved significantly the extraction of non-ferrous metals into concentrate. With closing of the concentrate roasting facility, we have stopped completely sulfur dioxide emission in the city of Zapolyarny.
Overhaul of the ore-thermal furnace in the smelter shop has cut significantly sulphur dioxide emissions. In Monchegorsk, metallurgists have created a unique, the only in the country, shop for production of pure electrolytic cobalt. "Electrolytic cobalt is much more expensive than cobalt in the concentrate and this has a significant economic effect. In addition, launch of this technology lowers pollutants into a natural water reservoir," he continued.
The Kola MMC has built facilities for recycling of salt waste - the waste from nickel production - thus, the waste is re-used, and the company sells it. "This project is purely environmental, it is not aimed at gaining profits, but in it we have used most modern energy saving technologies," he said. The Kola MMC’s largest project is production of nickel, and later on of copper, using the electric extraction technology. "This is by far the best available technology in the world," he said in conclusion.
The Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company is a leading production complex in the Murmansk region as 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. 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.