MOSCOW (Feb 13): Russian metals producer Nornickel plans to start experimental nickel smelting at its copper plant this year to maintain output during a major furnace reconstruction scheduled for 2027, a company vice-president said. The innovative move will allow the company to keep up nickel production during the overhaul. To offset the outage, Nornickel plans to convert part of its copper plant to produce nickel matte instead of copper — an "unconventional solution", Leonov said. Nornickel said in 2024 that it intended to close its Arctic copper plant and move copper production to China by mid-2027. The company expects nickel output of between 193,000 metric tonnes and 203,000 tonnes in 2026, roughly in line with 2025.

Source: The Edge Markets February 13, 2026 08:13 UTC