"If the price falls further, we'll analyze the possible solutions," Oleg Pivovarchuk, deputy chief executive, said Thursday, Interfax reported. Norilsk spokeswoman Maria Uvarova confirmed his remarks. The company's Tati Nickel in Botswana and Nkomati in South Africa produced 23,410 tons of nickel last year.
Norilsk said Feb. 16 that it would close its remaining operations in Western Australia, which became unprofitable after prices fell 80 percent in less than two years. Nickel for three-month delivery fell below $10,000 a ton for the first time in five years in October and rose $260, or 2.7 percent, to $9,960 a ton Thursday on the London Metal Exchange.
Norilsk has no plans to suspend any Russian operations, Pivovarchuk said. Smelting costs per ton of nickel in the country were $6,225 at its Polar division and $9,039 at the Kola division in 2008's first half, a company presentation on Dec. 1 showed.
The company has no plans to sell Billings, Montana-based Stillwater Mining, the only U.S. producer of platinum and palladium, and is seeking alternative suppliers for its Finnish Harjavalta refinery to substitute for the Australian mines that were suspended, according to Pivovarchuk.
Separately, Pivovarchuk said Norilsk will open a sales office in Shanghai in March.
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