Washington and London on Friday prohibited metal-trading exchanges from accepting new aluminium, copper and nickel produced by Russia and barred the import of the metals into the U.S. and Britain.

"The removal of the option to make or take delivery of Russian Class 1 nickel follows the recent decision by U.S. and UK authorities to place sanctions on several Russian metals," GCHL said in a statement.

GCHL said last month that traded prices from the platform will be used to create nickel indices and it was working with Intercontinental Exchange to create cash-settled derivatives contracts that can be settled and cleared centrally.

GCHL started looking at the potential of a Class 1 or higher grade nickel trading platform after the crisis at the London Metal Exchange (LME) two years ago, when the LME suspended nickel trading for more than a week and cancelled all nickel trades on March 8, 2022.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Sharon Singleton)