Nornickel, the world’s largest supplier of refined nickel and palladium, confirmed operational plans for this year in a report highlighting mixed first quarter results.
The group’s production of nickel, used in stainless steel and high capacity batteries, was down by 10% to 42,101 thousand tonnes, while production of copper, a key metal for power utilities, was up by 1% to 109,763 thousand tonnes. Platinum production fell by 1% to 178,000 troy ounces, while palladium production rose by 3% to 745,000 troy ounces. Both platinum and palladium are mainly used in car manufacturing to filter harmful emissions.
Nickel production fell due to an increase in the volume of work-in-progress, the company said in the press release. The miner maintained its forecast for base and precious metal production in 2024: nickel production is expected to be in the range of 184-194 thousand tonnes, copper — 334-354 thousand tonnes, palladium — 2.296-2.451 million troy ounces, platinum — 567-605 thousand troy ounces.
With its key operations based in the Russian Arctic, Nornickel has altered its development strategy and intends to build a modern copper smelter in China to replace the outdated smelting furnaces in Norilsk. This will allow Nornickel to produce copper directly on the territory of the world’s largest copper consumer and in return gain access to the technologies required to produce battery materials as part of its project to develop the Kolmozerskoe lithium deposit, the group’s CEO and coowner Vladimir Potanin said in an interview earlier this week.
Boliden, a Swedish miner, reduced its copper production by 59% to 33,933 thousand tonnes in the first quarter of 2024, while Australian metals and mining giant BHP increased its production by 14.8% to 465.9 thousand tonnes. Another large Nornickel’s peer Anglo American increased copper production by 2% to 3.3 thousand tonnes. Anglo American’s nickel production rose by 42% to 4.7 thousand tonnes, platinum by 3% to 272.7 thousand troy ounces, while palladium fell by 10% to 262.4 thousand troy ounces. 
