Norilsk Nickel produced 67,818 mt of nickel in the first quarter, down 5.2% from 71,571 mt in the first quarter of 2013 due to lower production volumes at some of its global operations, the Russian producer said Tuesday.
The company said that lower volumes at its Kola division in Russia and its Tati nickel mine in Botswana, Africa were factors behind the lower output, while the mothballing of its Lake Johnston operations in Australia also contributed to the overall lower volume.
It said there were lower processing volumes of high-grade nickel matte shipped from the Polar division due to scheduled repairs to one of the furnaces at its Nadezhda metallurgical plant, in addition to decreased tolling operations volumes as a result of a delivery stoppage of raw materials from Votorantim's Fortaleza smelter in Brazil.
"In 1Q 2014, the combined nickel output of our Russian operations at the Polar and the Kola divisions decreased 1.4% year on year to 55,706 mt," Norilsk Nickel said.
Nickel production at its Harjavalta refinery in Finland was flat at 11,246 mt in Q1 from 11,250 mt in Q1 2013.
At Norilsk's African Tati mine nickel concentrate output was down 20.9% year on year at 1,732 mt in Q1 from 2,191 mt for the same period last year.
"The decrease was attributed to lower metal grades in the mined ore. Also, according to the agreement as of August 2013, 50% of nickel semis produced from Tati's concentrate was shipped to Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta and the other 50% to Glencore Xstrata, while previously all concentrate was sold to third parties," the company said.
At its Nkomati nickel mine in South Africa, 3,056 mt of nickel concentrate was processed in Q1, up 15.3% on the same period last year.
The growth in nickel production at Nkomati for the period was attributed to an increase in ore output, an increase of nickel content in ore and the successful implementation of optimization programs at Nkomati's enrichment facilities.
Norilsk's copper output stood at 90,374 mt in Q1, down 0.7% from 91,011 mt in Q1 2013, in line with the company's production guidance.
