MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Norilsk Nickel reported nickel production to be flat annually at more than 146,000 metric tons while palladium production increased by 1% to 2.156 mln Troy ounces in the first nine months of 2024, the Russian mining and metals company said.
Copper production surged by 7% year on year in January - September, driven by the low baseline set last year, when the Copper Plant tweaked its production process by improving copper cathode quality in line with new requirements of product consumers. Platinum production dropped 1% to 521,000 Troy ounces.
In the press release, Senior Vice President Alexander Popov highlighted that initiatives aimed at boosting production efficiency and ore extraction have driven the positive performance over the past nine months.
In the third quarter of 2024, nickel production surged by 16% quarterly to 56,000 metric tons in view following maintenance on its flash smelting furnace. The metal was produced almost entirely from its own raw materials. Copper production lost 1% quarterly to about 108,000 metric tons in the reporting quarter.
Palladium group metals production plunged by 8% quarter on quarter to 676,000 ounces for palladium and 165,000 ounces for platinum due to the turnaround of the flash smelting furnace at the Nadezhdinsky Metallurgical Plant. "Platinum group metals have a longer production cycle from extraction to finished goods as compared to non-ferrous metals," the company added.