On July 30, Moscow-headquartered Russian miner Norilsk Nickel announced its preliminary consolidated production results for the second quarter and the first half of 2012.
Accordingly, Norilsk Nickel's overall nickel production in the second quarter of 2012 amounted to 69,639 mt, decreasing by 6,185 mt or 8.8 percent as compared to the first quarter of 2012, mostly due to shortages in deliveries of raw materials from third parties to the Harjavalta nickel refinery in Finland. In the first half of 2012, nickel production totaled 145,463 mt, representing seven percent growth as compared to the first half of 2011 mostly due to the production growth at the Russian divisions of the group.
As SteelOrbis reported, Norilsk Nickel previously stated that in 2012 it is targeting production of 235,000-240,000 mt of nickel at its Russian divisions and 60,000-65,000 mt of nickel at its Norilsk Nickel International operations (in Australia, Botswana and Finland).