Nornickel to invest over 100 bln rubles in fuel, energy complex modernization by 2024
MOSCOW. Sept 30 (Interfax) - MMC Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) plans to increase investments in the modernization of its fuel and energy complex in 2020-2024 by over 100 billion rubles, the Arctic mining and smelting giant said in a press release.
"These plans envisage an expansion of a large-scale investment program in energy infrastructure on Taimyr Peninsula that has been launched to provide energy resources to new growth projects. The expansion is specifically focused on industrial safety of all facilities including those built on permafrost," the company said.
The enhanced investment program includes replacement of equipment at heat and hydro power stations, upgrade of power grid and gas pipeline systems and modernization of fuel tank storages.
"The priority of our corporate strategy is sustainable production growth that is impossible to execute without development of infrastructure. For this very reason, Nornickel is aligning its investments in modernization of the fuel and energy complex with the development of mining and metallurgical assets. A special focus of these investments is the monitoring of the permafrost conditions. We plan to introduce a systematic monitoring of permafrost areas to see how they are affected by climatic fluctuations in Taimyr in order to ensure top level safety of our energy infrastructure that is critical to our production assets and to residents of Norilsk industrial district," said Sergei Dyachenko, Nornickel COO.