OREANDA-NEWS. September 17, 2012. MMC Norilsk Nickel (hereinafter – MMC Norilsk Nickel or the Company) announces that III International Ecological Conference on environmental protection and industrial operations in northern conditions started in Norilsk, reported the press-centre of Norilsk Nickel.  

The Conference is carried out within the framework of implementation of the program to considerably reduce the impact of the Company’s operations on the environment. The list of participants includes representatives of government authorities, Russian scientific community and specialists from German, United Stated, Canada, Italy, Finland, Holland, Austria and France.
Conference participants noted that in order to achieve its environmental protection objectives, OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel continues implementation of the programs on upgrading production facilities, bringing to life  new technologies and environmental protection programs.

According to Evgeny Muraviev – Director of the Company’s Polar Division, implementation of environmental protection activities resulted in the amount of hazardous materials emitted being reduced by one quarter, compared to the Soviet period, during the last three years, the Company has allocated over RUB 42 bil. to implementation of the projects aimed to reduce the environmental impact of its operations.     

Currently, MMC Norilsk Nickel is implementing activities in order to gradually reduce the amount of pollutants being discharged into the atmosphere from the metallurgical production facilities, located in Norilsk. This June, as part of the overall scope of activities aimed to achieve these goals, MMC Norilsk Nickel has signed a contract with Techint to develop a design which shall enable utilization of at least 95% of the sulfur dioxide discharged with the flue gasses of metallurgical production assets of Copper and Nadezhda Metallurgical plants, which will facilitate a considerable reduction in the amount of pollutants discharged into the atmosphere.  

The participants in the Conference underlined that Norilsk puts in practice suggestions made at the last year Conference. In line with these suggestions, started a city landscapes  greening and rehabilitation program, “Bolshoi Arkticheski” natural reserve and Norilsk municipality planted more than 1000 weather resistant trees and grass seeds adapted to northern conditions. Started as well a city-wide green-Norilsk planting action supported by the people of Norilsk.

The Conference is held in terms of Cooperation Agreement between the Rosprirodnadzor and the Company, signed in Autumn 2010. The agreement is a unique model of state-business partnership which guarantees new patterns of economic encouragement of private enterprise aiming at minimization of environmental hazards as well as patterns of ecological component of industrial economics.

Last year, prior to the Conference, a meeting of Public Council under the Rosprirodnadzor was held to evaluate the monitoring system of industrial environmental impact. Independent laboratories of the Siberian federal region were studying the last year behavior of monitoring system.

The independent experts came to a conclusion that their results are a 100% match with the results the Company presents to the supervising authorities which is another confirmation of the fact  that the Company has an advanced and monolithic system of monitoring that permits to any citizen  to obtain, among other factors, an up-to-date city ecological situation analysis. 

Info
In recent years we register a positive dynamics as to the decrease of basic pollutants emissions. In 2011, pollutants emissions from Polar division were 1,8% below the permitted values, being sulphur dioxide emissions 1,4% and solid agents emissions – 23,3% below the limits.
 
Compared to 2010, there is a 4,1% reduction  of solid pollutants emissions as a result of updating and repair of the existing gas-filtering equipment.

As a result of 2004-2011 time-span measures the pollutants emissions registered a 2,5 times decrease, while the output of recycled emissions fixed a two times increase.
 
In line with the air-cleaning programs of 2011, Nadezhda metallurgical plant has finished the remodeling of gas-cleaning system of the slag-cleaning electric furnace #4.
 
The Polar division practices in Norilsk open air quality monitoring at the line and under-flare posts to exercise urgent control over pollutants emissions accompanied by unfavourable weather conditions: temperature inversions, still air etc. In 2011, Polar division metallurgical plants confronted 215 emergency situations. 

The Company elaborated and brings to life a package of measures on spare use of water resources and water reservoirs protection. The total amount of water utilized by the Group facilities in 2011 is 81 mln  м3 less (a 5,7% decrease) than in 2010. 

Compared to 2010, the last year amount of waste on the Group level is 5168,8 th. ton less (11,2% decrease). More than 90% of the Company’s residues are a 5 class hazard (practically non-hazardous to the ambience). 

2011 witnessed the end of main facilities reconstruction of Lebiajie tailings dump to guarantee ecologically safe storage of concentration residues.  The first starting facility on ore tails recycling of the Talnakh Concentrator at Komsomolsky mine has attained the rating capacity, which permits to use annually 250 thousand м3  (or 220 thousand ton) of concentrator residues to fill in the mine cavities. Reconstruction of tail dumps of Nadezhda metallurgical plant is also on the way.
 
In 2004-2011, the Company canalized more than RUB 90 bln to moderate ecological problems, including current expenditures on technical re-equipment, updating and servicing nature conservation equipment and capitalized expenses on environmental protection.