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Siberian Academics, Nornickel strike cooperation agreement

The agreement is aimed at implementation of joint efforts to respond to the oil spill

NOVOSIBIRSK, September 15. /TASS/. The Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch struck a cooperation agreement with Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel), under which scientists will offer new approaches to environment-related issues of doing business in the Arctic, the Siberian Branch’s Deputy Chairman Sergei Sverchkov said on Tuesday during the signing ceremony.

The agreement is aimed at implementation of joint efforts to respond to the oil spill, to study the climate changes in the Arctic and to offer new approaches to doing business in the Russian Arctic zone. Mining and metallurgical companies have never entered agreements of the kind, the parties stressed.

According to the president’s envoy to the Siberian Federal District, Sergei Menyailo, in addition to ecology aspects, the agreement covers the issues of professional training, participation in research and organization of studies. The official expressed hope this approach would spread and companies, working in the Arctic, would be involved in scientific studies.

Nornickel’s Vice President Andrei Grachev emphasized the expedition’s results would offer new approaches to doing business in the Arctic.

“This concept will be a model for any business working in the Russian Arctic zone, not just for Norilsk Nickel, but for all companies,” he said. “This explains our interest for entering this agreement. Our aspiration is to go beyond the ecology aspect, as we want to become a strategic partner for the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.”

Earlier, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the first time in recent years has sent to the Taimyr Peninsula, at the invitation of Nornickel, a big scientific expedition to conduct a large-scale examination of the area. Scientists will use the expedition’s results to present suggestions for industrial companies, working in the Arctic, on how to preserve the nature.

The expedition’s key points were watersheds of the Rivers Pyasina, Norilka and Ambarnaya, and Lake Pyasino. The expedition’s term is five months – from July to November. Before end of August, experts from 14 research institutes of the Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch have collected samples of soils, plants and sediments, and now they work on tests at the institutes’ labs. First results may be expected in November-December, 2020.

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