What will be the future of Nikel?
The Russian mining and metallurgy giant Norilsk Nickel has requested a research centre to elaborate a long-term social and economic development programme for Nikel, a heavy industrialized town located on the border to Norway and Finland.
The Northwest Centre for Strategic Research on its website confirms that it has been assigned by Norilsk Nickel to elaborate the programme.
The programme will include a prognosis of local economy and propose a set of measures aimed at achieving a new level of local development, the centre reports. The programme is intended to help local authorities determine strategic development priorities. The work was started in September 2007.
Analysts have long speculated about whether Norilsk Nickel’s regional subsidiary Kolskaya GMK will close down its plant in Nikel and transfer industrial capacities to Monchegorsk further south on the Kola Peninsula.
Such a move would leave the border town in crisis and without jobs. The new development programme could be seen as a preparation for such a scenario.
Company head Yevgenii Potapov has earlier signalled that production will be moved from Nikel to Monchegorsk. The company recently also indicated that it will cut staff on the Kola Peninsula with 5000 positions.
Read more about the Nikel project of the Northwest Centre for Strategic Research
