In a seminar in Kirkenes, Norway, today, Kolskaya GMK director Yevgenii Potapov said that his company has completed a study on the future of the plant. The conclusion is that the smelter will be closed and production moved to new facilities in Monchegorsk further south in the peninsula.
The company leader said that a final announcement on the issue will be made in September-October this year.
Both Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov were participating in the seminar.
New industry?
The closing of the Kolskaya GMK plant could bring crisis to the small border town of Nikel. Today, the company employs a major part of the work force in the town. About 15,000 people live in the town.
In his speech, Mr. Potapov said that the plant could be used for alternative metallurgic activities. However, it is expected that the run-down plant will have to undergo major reconstruction in case of new industrial activities on the site.
The alternative use of the Nikel plant will be discussed in the course of fall, Mr. Potapov said. In his speech, he also invited the Tschudi Shipping Company, the owner of the Syd-Varanger mines on the Norwegian side of the border, to discussions on the plant’s future.
Norwegian money
Norway has together with Finnish and Swedish authorities over the last 20 years demanded a major reconstruction of the Nikel plant and subsequent cuts in emissions. In 1991, Norway provided 300 million NOK to the reconstruction of the plant. As reconstruction has been postponed most of the money has been left on a bank account managed by the Nordic Investment Bank.
As previously reported by BarentsObserver, an agreement between the Norwegian Ministry of Environment, the Nordic Investment Bank and the Norilsk Nickel combine from 2001, the air-pollution from the smelter in Nikel should be reduced by 90 percent no later than 2010. If so – Norway will grant 270 million NOK in support to the reconstruction. What will happen with the money now remains to be seen.
The Kolskaya GMK is the biggest company in the resource-rich Kola Peninsula. The company runs two major industrial sites in the region – the Nikelpechenga plant in the Pechenga Rayon and the Severonikel plant in Monchegorsk.
Read also:
Nikel on the foreign ministers agenda 3 June 2008
What will be the future of Nikel? 28 January 2008
Extreme pollution in Nikel 13 July 2007
