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Norilsk Nickel increased saleable nickel and copper production by 11% and 6% respectively in the third quarter of 2012, compared with the second quarter of the year.
Nickel production for the third quarter totalled 77,414 tonnes and copper production reached 95,520 tonnes.
Nickel production in the first nine months of the year reached rose 3% year-on-year to 222,877 tonnes.
Copper production fell 2% to 273,762 tonnes over the same period.
The increase in nickel production was helped by the increased loading rate at the company’s refinery in Finland and a return to normal operation at the Russian divisions after a period of flooding.
“The growth of nickel output was achieved due to increased loading rate of the nickel refinery Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta as well as due to normalised operation of the Russian divisions following the end of seasonal flooding,” the company said.
Harjavalta produced 13,528 tonnes of nickel in the third quarter, up 71% compared with the previous quarter.
Nickel production at Harjavalta fell 2% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2012 to 34,460 tonnes.
The company’s Polar and Kola divisions in Russia produced 58,433 tonnes of nickel in the third quarter – up 3% on the previous quarter – and 173,498 tonnes in the first nine months of 2012, unchanged compared with the same period in 2011.
The divisions produced 92,733 tonnes of copper in the third quarter, up 6% on the second quarter, and 265,016 tonnes in the first nine months of the year, down 1% year-on-year.
Nickel-in-concentrate and copper-in-concentrate produced at Norilsk Nickel Africa for third parties each increased 15% in the third quarter to 3,234 tonnes and 2,787 tonnes respectively, compared with the second quarter.
Over the first nine months of the year, nickel-in-concentrate produced at the African division for third parties increased 19% to 8,672 tonnes while copper-in-concentrate increased 10% to 7,740 tonnes.
Nickel-in-concentrate production at Norilsk Nickel Australia fell 10% compared with the previous quarter to 2,219 tonnes, but rose substaintially over the first nine months of the year to 6,247 tonnes from 435 tonnes in the same period of 2011.
Janie Davies jdavies@metalbulletin.com Twitter: @janiedavies_mb