Nickel See-Saw--Russian group's Southern African operations deliver up-and-down production volumes

摘要

World number one nickel and palladium producer MMC Norilsk Nickel (Norilsk) has revealed substantial increases in the physical volumes of metals sold by its Nkomati Nickel joint venture (JV) in South Africa and significant decreases in the volumes from its Tati Nickel operation in Botswana, during the year ending December 31, 2011. Norilsk owns 50% of Nkomati, the other 50% being held by South Africa's African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), which manages the operation.Nkomati is South Africa's only primary nickel producer, but its output includes palladium, platinum, copper and chromium as by-products. It is important to note that all the following figures for Nkomati refer to the Russian group's 50% share and not the full sales from the mine - to calculate that, the following numbers have to be doubled.