The capacities of the Norilsk Nickel Copper Plant will be transferred to China, Potanin said. As a result, copper products will be sold as Chinese goods, which are harder to subject to sanctions, the billionaire explained. The capacities in China are planned to be built by mid-2027
Norilsk Nickel plans to transfer the smelting capacities of the Copper Plant to China, the company’s president Vladimir Potanin told Interfax. “The project will allow us to avoid large losses caused by the current difficulties with payments, refusals to deliver, discounts on our metal, and the creation of inventories,” he said.
According to Norilsk Nickel’s calculations, the company can now count on only 80% of its pre-sanction income, while the cost of transactions, commission fees, and intermediary services reach 5-7% of the cost of the product.
On April 12, the United States and Great Britain imposed a ban on the import of nickel, aluminum, and copper of Russian origin. The restrictions also affected exchange trading and over-the-counter transactions — the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and London Metal Exchange (LME) are prohibited from accepting deliveries of sanctioned metals from Russia. After the introduction of American sanctions, the LME banned deliveries of Russian aluminum, nickel, and copper produced after April 13.
“This pressure made us think about how best to deliver our goods to sales markets. And one of these non-standard solutions is to transfer part of the production to direct consumption markets,” explained the billionaire (No. 5 in the Forbes Rating of Russian Billionaires – 2024, net worth $23.7 billion).
As part of the project to transfer the Copper Plant to China, Norilsk Nickel plans to create a joint venture with a Chinese company, which Potanin did not name. As a result, the copper products of the joint venture will be sold as Chinese goods, which are harder to subject to sanctions, he explained. Also, “our environmental problems” will go to China, Potanin emphasized. The capacities in China will be built by mid-2027, he assured. The President of Norilsk Nickel reported that almost 2 million tons of copper concentrate per year will be delivered to China via the Northern Sea Route.
According to the billionaire, the joint venture project has already received political support and is included in the agenda of Russian-Chinese summits. “In fact, within four years we will reach indicators that are almost 1.5 times better than what we have now, and 20% better than 2-4 years ago,” Potanin said. He assured that a significant part of Norilsk Nickel’s share in the joint venture will be returned to Russia in the form of dividends and used for domestic investment.
The billionaire said that in addition to copper, agreements are possible with other Chinese manufacturers specializing in nickel, cobalt and lithium products, as well as materials for lithium and sodium-ion batteries.
Norilsk Nickel shares on the Moscow Exchange grew, as of 12:40 Moscow time, by 0.68%, to 159.74 rubles per share.