Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant (NMP) Hydrometallurgical Shop has fully transitioned to dumping tailings to the rebuilt dam via a newly installed tailings pipeline, operational as of September 15. The project is an element of the large-scale environmental enhancement program embarked on by Nornickel. The company is striving to identify the areas with the highest historical exposure to pollution.
Since 2013, Nornickel has been running a number of large-scale environmental initiatives, and the tailings treatment program is one of them, with RUB 3 billion invested from 2013 to completely replace the 13-kilometer pipeline to the NMP tailings dam and rebuild the latter. Subsequent to the pipeline replacement, Nornickel is going to do a sanitary cleanup of the old pipeline trek in order to remediate the legacy accretions.
The formerly used pipeline tailings pipeline has been in use since 1997 and is made up of glass-lined pipes, which was one of the best technologies available in the 1990s. Two years prior to the end of service life of the pipeline, the company initiated a tailings dam reconstruction project and pipeline replacement. Pipes based on a new corrosion- and wear-resistant technology with lining of high-pressure polyethylene were procured from Somex, to prevent any leakage.
In accordance with the new development strategy, Nornickel is leading a large-scale production upgrades initiative, which, among other goals, will eliminate the legacy environmental issues. Expended capital will reach RUB 800 billion by 2020, with RUB 300 billion earmarked for environmental projects. (Nornickel/Ukrainian metal)