On December 12 Norilsk announced that it had resumed production at its Oktyabrsky mine, following a successful response to the flooding.
Mining operations began ahead of schedule.
The company updated its plans to resume normal operations.
The Oktyabrsky mine (5 MMtpy of ore capacity) is expected to resume full production by the end of April.
The company had announced it would resume full production in early May.
The mine is currently operating at 60 per cent of target capacity.
The expected restart date of production at the Taimyrsky mine (4.3mtpa ore capacity) remains unchanged, starting in early June.
Nikolay Utkin, Senior Vice President and Head of the Norilsk Division, said: "Our strategy for the entire work area has paid off - the inflow of groundwater has stopped.
We are now committed to meeting safe and environmentally compliant drainage for all industries and accelerating production restarts."
The concentrator is currently being inspected by the Federal Agency for Environment, Technology and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) as well as by internal company auditors.
The company has made plans to gradually restore the operation of the decentralized ore processing circuit (approximately 5.2 million tons per year of ore production), which was idled after the February 20 incident.
The decentralized circuit (and the entire plant) is expected to be back operating at full capacity by October 2021.
The tentative date provides a possible time frame for compliance with regulatory requirements.
Once the safety and reliability plan for the Norilsk Concentrator is completed, the Company will issue updated guidance for metal production in FY2021.
