Norilsk: Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky of its copper-nickel mines suspended due to flood

On February 24, 2021, Norilsk announced that the Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky mines had been partially closed. Prior to this, natural groundwater inflow was found at a depth of 350m of the Oktyabrsky mine cover during tunnel operation on February 12th. Due to the increase in the amount of water flowing into the mine drainage system and in accordance with safety procedures and applicable laws, the company has partially suspended operations at the mine until the flooding has stopped. Waterlogging is being eliminated. It is reported that the Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky mines account for about half of the ore mined by Nornickel each year.

The Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky mine projects are located in the Krasnoyarsk industrial zone of Norilsk, and the Oktyabrsky mine development project aims to maintain and gradually increase production to 6 Mtpa by 2025 by mining 38.5 million tons of rich, dispersed and copper-bearing ore from the Oktyabrskoye deposit. The Taimyrsky mine development project aims to maintain ore production at 4.3 Mtpa until 2025, with ore reserves of 139 million tons, by taking advantage of the rich copper and nickel reserves of the Oktyabrskoye deposit.

(Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky Mine location Map)

Sergey Dyachenko, first Vice President and Chief operating Officer of Nornickel, commented: "in order to ensure the safety of our employees, precautions must be taken to partially suspend the Oktyabrsky mine. Operations at the Taimyrsky mine have also been partially suspended because of connected underground operations between the two mines and water has seeped into the mine's field of vision. We are currently installing cofferdams to prevent more water from flowing in. When the cofferdam is in place, we will be able to estimate the amount of water accumulated in the mine and strengthen our response efforts to drain the mine as soon as possible. We are doing our best to eliminate the flood as soon as possible so as to minimize the impact of the flood on our production plan.

(real picture of Oktyabrsky mine)

(real picture of Taimyrsky mine)

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