KRASNOYARSK, August 29. /TASS/. The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) will start building a new settlement, Tukhard, on the Taymyr in the Krasnoyarsk Region's north, in the second quarter of 2026, the company's Senior Vice President, the Norilsk Division's CEO Nikolay Utkin told TASS.

The Tukhard village began growing spontaneously late last century. At that time, the North's low-numbered indigenous peoples settled in temporary housing arranged for workers near facilities of Norilskgazprom (Nornickel's subsidiary) due to available nearby communications and household amenities. The settlement turned out to be within the enterprise's sanitary protection zone.

"This is a key task for us," the company's representative said. "We assume that we will begin the construction in the second quarter of 2026."

The company does not drop plans to build a new settlement, despite the difficult economic situation, he said, adding the project would be launched in full.

The company has been the first in the Russian Arctic to apply the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) to participation in the program for resettlement for Tukhard residents and for the town's further development. Tukhard's residents agreed to move on certain conditions, which included the choice of social and communal infrastructures, as well as preferences for the town's appearance, and for infrastructures to develop reindeer husbandry. One of important conditions for granting consent to move was the participation of residents in all stages: from design to construction.

Right now, about 1,000 people live in the village, together with reindeer herders. The local school is for students of first four years, and afterwards kids have to leave for Dudinka to continue education there. The village does not have a managing company.

About Nornickel

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