Norilsk Nickel does not guarantee safety?
Among Russian industrial giants that have caused significant damage to the environment, MMC Norilsk Nickel occupies a special place: in 2021, by court decision, the company paid a record fine of more than 146 billion rubles. This was preceded by a large-scale environmental emergency in Norilsk: in May 2020, as a result of an accident at CHPP-3 of the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company (NTEC), controlled by Nornickel, a spill of about 21 thousand tons of diesel fuel occurred, polluting an area of about 180 thousand square meters meters. A state of emergency was introduced in Norilsk and the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets region, damage was caused to water bodies and soils, and the incident became the largest oil spill in the Russian Arctic. After paying the fine, the president and co-owner of Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin, announced the “lesson” the company had learned and spoke about plans to invest more than 350 billion rubles in solving environmental and industrial safety issues. This turned out to be the most expensive, but far from the only “lesson”: emergency situations at Norilsk Nickel enterprises occur regularly, even fatal cases are known. Thus, in October 2019, at the Taimyrsky mine, three miners died from lack of oxygen; in February 2021, a collapse occurred in the crushing shop of the Norilsk concentrator during repair work, causing the death of three and the hospitalization of five people; Last December, at the Komsomolsky mine, as a result of an accident, a drilling machine overturned and the operator was killed. There were also cases of landscape contamination with petroleum products, although on a smaller scale than during the Norilsk disaster. Violations revealed by supervisory authorities at Norilsk Nickel facilities and the payment of a record fine do not in the least prevent its owner, Vladimir Potanin, from appearing on the “Forbes”, and the company itself – to declare a profit of hundreds of billions of rubles, although at the end of 2023 and the first half of 2024 a decrease in its main financial indicators was noted.
Financial losses of Norilsk Nickel
“Kompromat GROUP” continues a series of publications about large enterprises – violators of environmental legislation, whose owners and top managers occupy first places in the ratings “Forbes” In previous materials we talked about the holding “SIBUR” And “Rosneft”but when painting a picture of ecological anarchy, we, of course, could not pass by such an industrial giant as “Norilsk Nickel” and its beneficiaries.
So, PJSC Mining and Metallurgical Company (MMC) “Norilsk Nickel” specializes in the production of metals necessary for the development of a low-carbon economy. The company is a leader in the world market of palladium (44%) and high-grade nickel (14%), is one of the largest producers of platinum and copper, and is engaged in the mining of silver, gold, sulfur, etc. Being a full-cycle enterprise, MMC carries out a wide range of work – from geological exploration to logistics and sales.
Norilsk Nickel occupies 10th place in the Forbes rating of “100 largest companies in Russia by net profit”: the publication indicates last year’s profit of the company –251.8 billion rubles(a year earlier – 429.3 billion). Meanwhile, according to the results of the first half of 2024, there was a decrease in net profit by 23% compared to the same period in 2023: the figures were, respectively, $829 million And $1.07 billion. Revenue decreased by 22% – from $7.16 billion to 5.61 billion.
“The unfavorable external conditions that Norilsk Nickel faced last year continued to put pressure on our business in the first half of 2024. Falling prices for nickel and palladium, difficulties with logistics in the Red Sea, as well as increased difficulties with cross-border payments have had an extremely negative impact on our revenue, profitability and free cash flow.”– the president and co-owner of the enterprise commented on the financial performance report Vladimir Potanin.
Potanin is a beneficiary under sanctions
At the end of August, the media wrote about the Norilsk Nickel management team assessing the impact of economic sanctions from the United States. It was clarified that the updated SDN list of the American Ministry of Finance includes a number of service companies of the group (“NN Technical Services”, Norilsk Nickel Sputnik, “Norilsk-Avia”, “Norilsk Supply Complex” etc.), while production and sales structures (including PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel, Polar Branch, Kola MMC and their subsidiaries) were not included in it.
Vladimir Potanin himself has been on the sanctions lists of the USA, Great Britain, Canada and Australia since 2022. Norilsk Nickel is one of his key assets: he controls almost 37% of the shares of the metallurgical giant. In the ranking of Russian billionaires according to “Forbes“The businessman ranks fifth, the publication estimates his fortune at $23.7 billion. Compared to the pre-sanction period, Potanin has become noticeably “impoverished”: in 2021, the oligarch’s fortune was estimated at $27 billion.
Safety “lesson”: not the first and not the last
After the Norilsk disaster, Potanin said that the company “learned my lesson” and, taking into account the state’s special attention to the environmental agenda, plans to spend more than 350 billion rubles to address environmental and industrial safety issues. At the beginning of this year, NTEC reported on the plans aimed at implementing the current repair program in 2023 13.5 billion rubles and implementation of the production capacity modernization program by 108%. One might say that better late than never. But the region will have to eliminate the consequences of what Norilsk Nickel called a “lesson” for a long time.
“The water bodies were significantly polluted. Environmentalists concluded that in the future the accident will have a negative impact on the development of flora and fauna. Very great damage was caused to the Red Book species of fish of the Nadezhdinsky stream, the Taldykan, Ambarnaya, Pyasino rivers, and Pyasino lake.”said the publication of the Regnum portal, the authors of which also focused on the damage caused to 47 farms of representatives of indigenous peoples engaged in fishing and commercial hunting of wild reindeer.
Do not forget that we are talking about the largest, but far from the first emergency at Norilsk Nickel enterprises. Let’s give a few examples. In October 2019 at Taimyrsky mine at the horizon of 1345 m, the bodies of three miners were found without signs of life. The cause of their death was lack of oxygen. After the inspection, Rostechnadzor came to the conclusion that the organization of work was unsatisfactory. It is significant that a few months earlier the supervisory agency suspended the work of part of the technical sections of the mine for 90 days due to “gross violations of industrial safety rules during the operation of a particularly dangerous facility”.
In July 2020, near the village of Tukhard in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, from a depressurized pipeline JSC Norilsktransgaz (part of Nornickel) spilled more than 44 tons of aviation fuel, which led to the pollution of a local lake with an area of 600 square meters. A state of emergency was introduced in the village.
In February 2021, in the crushing shop controlled by Norilsk Nickel Norilsk concentrating plant During repair work to strengthen the structures, a collapse occurred, causing the death of three and hospitalization of five people. Also in February, Norilsk Nickel partially suspended its mine operations due to flooding. “October”And “Taimyrsky”Fortunately, there were no casualties.
In December 2023 at the mine “Komsomol”considered one of the largest and most promising mining enterprises of the Polar Branch of Norilsk Nickel, as a result of the accident, the drilling machine overturned into the treatment space chamber at a depth of 560 meters, the operator was killed. It is perhaps worth dwelling on this tragic incident. As we can see, both before the oil spill in May 2020 and after, Potanin and his team were taught enough lessons, but only one was learned – at a cost of 146 billion. This is the world of big business, where dollars are more valuable than human lives.
