Russian Platinum Backs Out of JV With Norilsk Nickel

Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest of palladium and high-grade nickel and a major producer of platinum and copper, reported that Russian Platinum has notified the company of its decision to terminate the negotiations regarding the Arctic Palladium joint venture and to proceed with the development of the Chernogorskoye Deposit and the southern part of the Norilsk- 1 Deposit on its own. UC RUSAL, one of Nornickel’s shareholders, did not issue corporate approvals to Nornickel to participate in the proposed joint venture.

Nornickel has entered into discussions with Russian Platinum over the provision of certain services and resources, which will be required for these projects as well as a potential offtake at market terms for the products, the company said.

“Nornickel’s management has always and still does consider Arctic Palladium as a promising Tier One asset able to meet the growing PGM demand,” Vice President for Strategy and Strategic Projects at Nornickel Sergey Dubovitsky said. “In spite of the current and, we hope, temporary turbulence in the commodity markets, we maintain a very positive view on palladium fundamentals, which should remain strong in a strategic perspective. Being a responsible palladium producer and the market leader, we intend to develop a long-term operating and commercial partnership with Russian Platinum.”

As featured in Womp 2020 Vol 04 - www.womp-int.com