On September 14, 2022, Nornickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel and a major producer of platinum and copper, announced that a large fire broke out in the nickel electrolysis workshop of the plant, KolaMMC Mining and Metallurgy Company (KolaMMC), at 9:04 am local time on September 14. All staff were quickly evacuated and there were no injuries, Production has been suspended.
The company is a subsidiary of Nornickel Nickel Co., Russia's largest nickel producer, and Monchegorsk Bekame's facility became the world's largest after the closure of Nornickel's old nickel plant on the Tamil peninsula five years ago.
Nornickel is the world's largest nickel smelter, with an annual capacity of 250,000 tons, or about 8% of the world's primary nickel supply. The company produced 100,000 tons of refined nickel in the first half of 2022.
