
Nornickel, Russia’s largest metals company and the world’s leading producer of refined nickel and palladium, has deployed QR code tracking technology at its Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company facility in Russia’s Murmansk region, enabling customers to access basic product information through mobile scanning. The system provides batch identification, weight data, and manufacturing details for the...
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The government of Kazakhstan is implementing measures under its 2021 Law “On Industrial Policy” to boost domestic manufacturing by supplying local enterprises with raw materials at subsidized prices. This initiative has led to a significant increase in the processing of base metals, including a twofold rise in primary aluminum processing to 57,000 tonnes in 2024,...
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Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, is advancing plans to launch industrial-scale production of lithium and iodine by 2028, with additional prospects for extracting scandium, gallium, rubidium, and cesium from the associated waters of its oil and gas fields. The initiative represents a strategic diversification into critical minerals production while leveraging...
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Russia is planning to double its copper production over the next 15 years, leveraging massive, untapped deposits in its Far East to meet soaring global demand for the metal, which is critical for the green energy transition. Oleg Kazanov, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra), confirmed the ambitious target, stating that...
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China’s East Hope Group, a diversified industrial conglomerate controlled by billionaire Liu Yongxing, has secured government backing for a $12 billion vertically integrated aluminum production complex in Kazakhstan. The project, announced following a meeting between Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and East Hope Group founder and CEO Liu Yongxing, will establish the country’s first large-scale...
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The world’s second-largest aluminum producer by volume Rusal’s shareholders voted against providing extensive internal documentation to Sual Partners, the aluminum producer’s largest minority shareholder, during an extraordinary general meeting held in Russia. The decision blocks Sual Partners from accessing decades of correspondence, board communications, and investment records that the company had demanded by May 30,...
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Nornickel, Russia’s largest metals company and the world’s leading producer of refined nickel and palladium, and Ecofes, a Russian water purification equipment manufacturer, have completed industrial testing of palladium-enhanced electrodes that reduce power consumption by 18.6% in sodium hypochlorite production for water treatment facilities. The first commercial installation of 560 palladium anodes is now operational...
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VSMPO-Avisma, based in Verkhnyaya Salda, Russia, reported a 32% decrease in net profit under IFRS for 2024, totaling more than 16.85 billion rubles (about $182 million USD). This marks a notable decline from the 24.85 billion rubles (about $269 million USD) recorded in 2023. The company’s revenue also fell by 2.4% to 118.55 billion rubles...
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Copper has dominated commodity headlines in 2025, with prices swinging sharply amid global trade tensions and major new investments. After hitting a record high above $5.20 per pound in March, copper futures tumbled to a three-month low of $4.03 in April, driven by traders hedging ahead of tariff hikes and then unwinding positions as the...
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Nornickel, one of the world’s largest producers of nickel and palladium, maintained stable production in the first quarter of 2025, with only marginal declines in most key metals despite persistent headwinds in the global metals market. The company reported a 1.1% year-on-year decrease in nickel output to 41.6 thousand tonnes, a 0.4% dip in copper...
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Russian state development bank VEB will invest more than 1.1 trillion rubles ($13.4 billion) in the development of the Baimskaya copper mine in Chukotka, a remote region in Russia’s Far East where about half the territory lies above the Arctic Circle. The investment, one of the largest in the Arctic mining sector, is expected to...
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Russia’s state-run diamond miner ALROSA is expanding its exploration and development efforts beyond diamonds, citing signs of polymetal occurrences in Yakutia and a broader push into gold mining. The company plans to evaluate the commercial potential of these additional resources, aiming to list them on its balance sheet. Company head Pavel Marinychev confirmed during the...
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Krastsvetmet boosted its refined gold production to 198 tonnes in 2024, marking a 9.4% increase compared to the previous year, according to recently published data. Despite the rise in output, the company’s dominance in the Russian gold refining sector slipped, with its market share dropping by 1 percentage point to 55%. The decline in market...
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Researchers from the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Centre and Siberian Federal University have developed new palladium-carbon nanocomposite materials with enhanced electrochemical properties, according to the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The materials, synthesized using plasma chemical techniques, show promise for applications in fuel cells, batteries, and other electrochemical devices due to their improved reaction...
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Russia plans to begin industrial lithium production by 2030, targeting an output of at least 60,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate annually as part of its strategy to reduce reliance on imports and expand domestic battery production, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The move aligns with directives from President Vladimir Putin,...
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Vladimir Potanin, president and co-owner of Russian mining giant Nornickel, confirmed on Tuesday that negotiations for a joint copper smelting venture with Chinese partners were progressing, with a Chinese government-approved concept expected to take clearer shape by the summer. His remarks came during the congress by the powerful business lobby group Russian Union of Industrialists...
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Russia must establish a full production chain for rare earth metals (REM) to achieve technological sovereignty, according to Andrey Trenin, head of the company developing the Afrikand deposit. The country remains heavily reliant on China for its REM supply, despite possessing significant reserves. The topic of REM has gained attention due to the global deglobalization...
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Russian aluminium producer Rusal announced plans to establish a 1.5-tonne-per-year production facility for scandium, a rare-earth metal, with the potential to expand capacity to 19 metric tonnes annually. The facility will be located at the Bogoslovsky Aluminium Plant near the Ural Mountains, with production set to begin this year. The company has invested 500 million...
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VSMPO-Avisma Corporation has expressed interest in participating in both domestic and international projects, provided they ensure mutually beneficial cooperation. The corporation’s press service confirmed this position in a statement to TASS. “The corporation is interested in projects, including foreign ones, where there is demand for high-tech titanium products, of course, provided that it is mutually...
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended an offer to the United States for joint exploration of Russia’s rare earth metal deposits and the supply of aluminium to the US market. The proposal outlines a potential economic partnership between the two countries. The announcement follows US President Donald Trump’s statement that “major economic development transactions with...
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Kazakhmys Progress LLP has successfully produced technical selenium of grade ST-1 at its refining and slag processing workshop in Balkhash, Kazakhstan. This marks the first industrial-scale production using a unique vacuum distillation method in the country. The first batch, amounting to 100 tons, contains at least 99.5% selenium purity. The vacuum distillation method, developed by...
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The February issue of Metallosnabzheniye i Sbyt magazine features interviews with managing directors of Sayanogorsk and Khakassky aluminium smelters and the SAYANAL plant. Sergey Sorokin, Managing Director of SAYANAL, discussed the investment programme, production modernisation, and new projects. A key focus of Rusal’s investment programme is the agreement signed with the Government of the Republic...
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Technological advances in aluminium ingot analysis RUSAL, one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, has significantly upgraded its ingot quality assurance processes through artificial intelligence. The proprietary AI system, developed by the RUSAL Engineering and Technology Centre (ETC), enables real-time microstructure analysis of cylindrical aluminium ingots. By employing machine vision and neural networks, it evaluates...
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Nornickel, a leading Russian miner, has outlined its production targets for base and precious metals in 2024, forecasting a slight increase in nickel output. The company expects nickel production to rise by 1.2%, reaching 204-211 thousand tonnes. Copper output is projected to remain stable at 363-373 thousand tonnes, with an additional 66-70 thousand tonnes of...
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