MURMANSK, April 3. /TASS./ The Severny mine, the main supplier of raw material to the Kola MMC (part of Norilsk Nickel), will be developed until 2060, the Kola MMC’s Deputy Director General Konstantin Nesterov told TASS.

"The company’s plans focus on - further development of the southern underground section and opening of the next horizon - 740 meters," he said. "Thus, we shall extend the mine’s work to approximately the 2060s."

The company did not specify the stock’s amounts.

According to the Kola MMC, in 2017, the company's geologists completed a unique project - they made a large digital model of the Severny mine. The audited all mining operations, installed new software, and all data from paper sections and plans were converted into the digital format. Thus, the geological graphics and projecting became easier, and production efficiency has improved.

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 company is the world’s biggest nickel refining enterprise and Russia’s only producer of electrolytic cobalt of highest grades. The 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.

Nickel is a basic component of most super alloys - heat-resistant materials, used in the aerospace industry for power machines’ parts. The Murmansk Region has a biggest in Russia deposit of nickel ores.