Nadezhda Smelter in Norilsk Set for Major Overhaul

The Nadezhda Smelter in Russia’s Arctic city of Norilsk is gearing up for a large-scale overhaul of its second process line, starting on May 20, Vitaly Muravyov, Director of the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant at Nornickel, announced. Nornickel, one of the world’s largest miners, has invested $340 million in this modernization project, marking the largest overhaul at the plant in the last 20 years.

The overhaul will involve a complete replacement of the weighted smelting furnace and modernization of peripheral equipment, aimed at improving the reliability of the process and increasing the plant's capacity. "Essentially, we will get a completely new, modernized smelting unit: we will completely dismantle the old furnace and build a new one," said Vitaly Muravyev, Director of Nadezhda Smelter. This includes overhauling the drying and depletion processes, completely replacing the depletion electric smelting furnace No. 3, and reconstructing the pelletizing basin.

The Nadezhda Smelter is one of the key enterprises within Nornickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium, as well as one of the largest producers of platinum and copper. The factory processes nickel-pyrrhotite concentrate and metal-bearing products from the Talnakh Concentrator, as well as nickel concentrate and pyrrhotite concentrate from the Norilsk Concentrator. The plant produces high-grade matte and elemental sulfur.

The upgrade is scheduled to be completed in just 60 days, with an additional 15 days required to warm up the new furnace for the launch of the line. The new furnace's capacity will surpass that of the previous one, increasing the plant's overall capacity. After the reconstruction, the plant's capacity may reach 2.8 million tons of nickel concentrate annually.