OREANDA-NEWS. August 04, 2014. OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (hereinafter –“Norilsk Nickel”, “the Company” or “the Group”), the world’s largest nickel and palladium producer, announces preliminary consolidated production results for the second quarter of 2014 and first half of 2014.

Nickel

2Q14 nickel production amounted to 60.9 thousand tones decreasing 10.2% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) mostly due to scheduled repair works in Russia and Finland.

Overall saleable nickel production in the first half of 2014 reached 128.7 thousand tonnes, demonstrating a 7.7% decrease year-on-year (y-o-y) driven mostly by the decrease in low - profitable tolling operations at Kola MMC and lower output by international divisions.

Copper

2Q14 copper output increased 3.7% q-o-q amounting to 93.7 thousand tonnes. This growth was mainly attributed to a larger share of cuprous ores in the total volume of ore processed by the Polar Division.

Another positive factor was an increase in the sale of copper cake to third parties by Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta.

In total, for the first half of 2014 the Company produced 184.1 thousand tones of copper which represents a 0.8% decline y-o-y driven by short delivery of raw materials to Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta as compared to 1H13.

Platinum Group Metals

2Q palladium output reached 729 thousand troy ounces increasing 19.5% q-o-q while platinum production was up 18% q-o-q to 177 thousand troy ounces. The increase was mainly driven by the release of work-in-progress material in Russia and higher sales volumes of PGMs in copper cake to third parties by Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta.

Overall palladium and platinum output in the first half of 2014 amounted to 1,339 thousand troy ounces of and 327 thousand troy ounces respectively, in line with production results for the first half of 2013.