GMK Noril'skiy nikel' : NORILSK NICKEL GROUP ANNOUNCES PRELIMINARY CONSOLIDATED PRODUCTION RESULTS FOR 2st QUARTHER AND 1st HALF 2017

Moscow - PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel, the largest refined nickel and palladium producer in the world, announces preliminary consolidated production results for the second quarter and the first half of 2017.

First Vice-President - Chief Operating Officer, Sergey Dyachenko commented on the 1H17 production results:

«In 2Q17 our platinum group metals (PGMs) production increased substantially owing to the processing of built-up work-in-progress material which enabled us to offset the previous quarter decline. A minor reduction in nickel production volumes was due to scheduled annual repair works at Harjavalta nickel refinery in Finland. In addition, in 2Q17 we significantly decreased low-margin processing of third party nickel feed at Harjavalta.

In May 2017, Talnakh Concentrator reached its design parameters in terms of nickel and copper recovery rates into collective concentrates as well as the metal content in nickel-pyrrhotite and copper concentrates.

At the same time, we were still experiencing certain issues with lifting and processing previously stored pyrrhotite concentrate and also had to run some short-term suspensions of our smelting operations in the Polar division due to unfavorable meteorological conditions to keep the pollutant concentrations in Norilsk's residential area within the limits. Our management team is doing their best to minimize the negative impact of the above on current year production targets through more efficient ore processing and optimization of smelting capacities utilization and we thus confirm initial 2017 metal production guidance».

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