KRASNOYARSK, August 27. /TASS/. The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) will launch the Sulfur Program's second industrial line at the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant in Norilsk, in the Krasnoyarsk Region's north, ahead of schedule, the company's Senior Vice President, the Norilsk Division's CEO Nikolay Utkin told TASS.

The first stage of Nornickel's flagship project began at the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant on October 25, 2023. The company launched the first industrial line into comprehensive testing and has been working to implement the project despite the legal opportunity to shift the implementation dates as the state's support measure in response to foreign economic sanctions and restrictions.

"As you well know, we've set the deadline of October 1 for the launch of the second line," the company's representative said. "Today, we have approached the comprehensive testing of the second industrial line ahead of schedule."

The company has been using advanced technologies, he continued, and, due to sanctions, it had to replace part of the equipment. The national environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, has confirmed the first line's effectiveness, he added. Earlier, the company reported the first industrial line's efficiency at 99.6%.

The Sulfur Program's technologies are assumed to capture at least 99% of sulfur dioxide at the main smelting units, where they will be used, and they take into account peculiarities of the Norilsk Industrial District's' ore base, the used pyrometallurgical processes, as well Norilsk's logistical limitations (a lack of external railway, a limited navigation period on the Yenisei River, the inter-navigation period where only air traffic is possible, and the Northern Sea Route's logistics). Sulfuric acid from sulfur dioxide will be further neutralized by limestone to produce gypsum.

The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) is a diversified mining and metallurgical company, the world's largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel.