29 Jul 2016 12:00
MMC Norilsk Nickel / Miscellaneous - High PriorityMMC Norilsk Nickel: NORILSK NICKEL ANNOUNCES PRELIMINARY CONSOLIDATEDPRODUCTION RESULTS FOR 2nd QUARTER AND 1st HALF 2016 29-Jul-2016 / 13:00 CET/CESTDissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EquityStory.RS,LLC - a company of EQS Group AG.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NORILSK NICKEL ANNOUNCES PRELIMINARY CONSOLIDATED PRODUCTION RESULTS FOR2nd QUARTER AND 1st HALF 2016 Moscow, July 29, 2016 - PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (hereinafter - Nornickel orthe Company), the world's largest nickel and palladium producer, announcespreliminary consolidated production results for the second quarter and thefirst half of 2016. Nickel 2Q16 consolidated nickel production amounted to 58 kt decreasing 9%quarter-on-quarter(q-o-q). Nickel output from the Company's own Russianfeed reached 47 kt, down 9% q-o-q. The reduction was driven by the increaseof work-in-progress material in transit due to shut down of smelting androasting capacities of Nickel Plant and lower metal content in mined ore. Overall in 1H16, nickel output amounted to 122 kt decreasing 7% year-on-year (y-o-y) driven mostly by one-off increase of work-in-progress materialin transit due to the ongoing reconfiguration of downstream productionfacilities at Polar division and lower metal content in mined ore. Copper 2Q16 consolidated copper production amounted to 90 kt increasing 3% q-o-q.Copper output from the Company's own Russian feed reached 86 kt, up 1% q-o-q. The increase was attributed to higher copper content in mined ore. Overall in 1H16, copper output amounted to 177 kt decreasing 3% y-o-ydriven mostly by the increase of work-in-progress material in transit. Platinum Group Metals 2Q16 consolidated palladium and platinum output amounted to 688 koz (up 7%q-o-q) and 162 koz (down 5% q-o-q), respectively. Palladium output from theCompany's own Russian feed reached 678 koz, up 8% q-o-q and platinum outputreached 159 koz, down 3% q-o-q. The growth of palladium and decrease ofplatinum output was mainly attributed to a respective change of metalcontent in mined ore. Overall in 1H16, palladium and platinum output amounted to 1,330 koz (down2% y-o-y) and 333 koz (down 2% y-o-y), respectively. The decline was drivenmostly by the ongoing reconfiguration of downstream production facilitiesat Polar division and increase of work-in-progress material in transit. Russian operations In 2Q16, Russian assets produced 47 kt of nickel, down 8% q-o-q. In 1H16,total nickel output by the Pola and Kola divisions decreased 8% y-o-y to 99kt. The reduction was attributed to lower processing volumes of rich oredue to the pre-commissioning activities as a part of the second phase ofTalnakh Concentrator upgrade and the increase of production from Russianfeed at Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta in line with the reconfiguration program. In 2Q16, copper output in Russia amounted to 88 kt, up 3% q-o-q. The growthwas attributed to an increase of cuprous ores mined and processed by thePolar division. In 1H16, copper output amounted to 174 kt, down 1% y-o-y.The slight reduction was attributed to the start of concentrate productionfor further processing at Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta and a respectiveincrease of work-in-progress material in transit. In reported periods, Kolacopper production from third parties surged due to the increase ofprocessing of copper cake received from Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta. In 2Q16, palladium output in Russia reached 678 koz (up 7% q-o-q) andplatinum output from Company's Russian operations amounted to 159 koz (down5% q-o-q). Overall in 1H16, palladium output in Russia stayed almost flaty-o-y at 1,311 koz and platinum output from Company's Russian operationsamounted to 326 koz (up 1% y-o-y). The growth of palladium and decrease ofplatinum output was mainly attributed to the change in metal content inmined ore. Norilsk Nickel Finland In 2Q16, Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta produced approximately 11 kt of nickel,down 12% q-o-q. The decrease was driven by scheduled repairs at therefinery. Nickel output from the Company's own Russian feed reached 0.8 kt,up 50% q-o-q, which was mainly attributed to the processing of Russianconcentrate as part of the reconfiguration program. In 1H16, nickel outputamounted to 22 kt increasing 2% y-o-y. The growth was attributed to theincreased processing volumes of Russian feed and materials purchased fromthird parties. In 2Q16, output of copper increased 14% q-o-q to 2 kt, which was attributedto higher copper content in supplied ore. In 1H16, copper output decreasedalmost two-fold y-o-y to 3 kt. The reduction of output was driven byshipment of copper cake for processing to Kola MMC. In 2Q16, Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta increased the production of palladium(in copper cake) by 12% q-o-q to 10 koz and the production of platinum (incopper cake) stayed almost flat q-o-q at 4 koz. In 1H16, output ofpalladium and platinum reached 19 koz (down 54% y-o-y) and 8 koz (down 53%y-o-y) respectively. The decrease of PGM output was driven by shipment ofcopper cake for processing to Kola MMC. Nornickel confirms that it is on track to meet its 2016 metal productionguidance from Russian feed: 2016 Production Guidance (from Russian feed): Metals Saleable MetalsNi, kt 206-212Cu, kt 342-352Pd, koz 2,296-2,392Pt, koz 542-586 NORNICKEL 2Q 2016 2Q 2015 Change 1H 2016 1H 2015 ChangeSALEABLE q-o-q y-o-yMETALSPRODUCTIONTOTAL METALPRODUCTION¹Nickel, t 57,942 63,631 -9% 121,573 131,291 -7%from Russian 46,956 51,869 -9% 98,825 106,694 -7%feedCopper, tonnes 90,186 87,253 3% 177,439 182,095 -3%from Russian 86,316 85,257 1% 171,573 174,471 -2%feedPalladium, koz 688 642 7% 1,330 1,359 -2%from Russian 678 626 8% 1,304 1,292 1%feedPlatinum, koz 162 171 -5% 333 339 -2%from Russian 159 164 -3% 323 314 3%feedNORNICKELPOLAR AND KOLADIVISIONS(RUSSIA)Nickel, t 47,456 51,764 -8% 99,220 108,373 -8%Polar division 20,700 23,650 -12% 44,350 47,836 -7%Kola division 26,756 28,114 -5% 54,870 60,537 -9%from Russian 25,467 27,692 -8% 53,159 58,858 -10%feedfrom 3d 1,289 422 205% 1,711 1,679 2%parties feedCopper, t 88,364 85,660 3% 174,024 175,351 -1%Polar division 73,923 72,763 2% 146,686 145,494 1%Kola division 14,441 12,897 12% 27,338 29,857 -8%from Russian 12,393 12,494 -1% 24,887 28,977 -14%feedfrom 3d 2,048 403 408% 2,451 880 179%parties feedPalladium, koz 678 633 7% 1,311 1,313 0%Polar division 495 405 22% 900 983 -8%Kola division 182 229 -20% 411 330 25%from Russian 182 222 -18% 404 309 31%feedfrom 3d 0 7 -100% 7 21 -67%parties feedPlatinum, koz 159 167 -5% 326 322 1%Polar division 125 119 5% 244 257 -5%Kola division 34 48 -29% 82 65 26%from Russian 34 45 -24% 79 57 38%feedfrom 3d 0 3 -100% 3 8 -63%parties feedNORNICKELFINLAND²Nickel, t 10,486 11,867 -12% 22,353 22,007 2%from Russian 789 527 50% 1,316 0 -feedCopper, t 1,822 1,593 14% 3,415 6,073 -44%Palladium, koz 10 9 12% 19 41 -54%Platinum, koz 4 4 0% 8 16 -53%NORNICKELAFRICATati Nickel 0 0 0 1,822 -100%nickel, tthereof Tati 0 0 0 911 -100%Nickel nickelto 3d partiesthereof Tati 0 0 0 911 -100%Nickel nickelprocessed inthe CompanyNkomati (50%) 2,170 2,900 -25% 5,070 5,382 -6%nickelprocessed inthe Company, tTati Nickel 0 0 0 1,343 -100%copper, tthereof Tati 0 0 0 671 -100%Nickel copperto 3d partiesthereof Tati 0 0 0 671 -100%Nickel copperprocessed inthe CompanyNkomati (50%) 1,006 1,339 -25% 2,345 2,533 -7%copperprocessed inthe Company, tTati Nickel 0 0 0 10 -100%palladium, kozthereof Tati 0 0 0 5 -100%Nickelpalladium to3d partiesthereof Tati 0 0 0 5 -100%Nickelpalladiumprocessed inthe CompanyNkomati (50%) 10 13 -23% 23 26 -12%palladiumprocessed inthe Company,kozTati Nickel 0 0 0 2 -100%platinum, kozthereof Tati 0 0 0 1 -100%Nickelplatinum to 3dpartiesthereof Tati 0 0 0 1 -100%Nickelplatinumprocessed inthe CompanyNkomati (50%) 4 5 -20% 9 10 -10%platinumprocessed inthe Company,koz Notes:¹Totals may value from sum of numbers as a result of rounding² Production results include processing of nickel concentrate from Nkomatiand purchased materials ABOUT THE COMPANY Nornickel is a diversified mining and metallurgical company, the world'slargest producer of refined nickel and palladium and a leading producer ofplatinum, cobalt, copper and rhodium. The company also produces gold,silver, iridium, selenium, ruthenium and tellurium. The production units of Nornickel include Polar Division, located at theNorilsk Industrial District on Taimyr Peninsula, and Kola Mining andMetallurgical Company located on the Kola Peninsula in Russia as well asHarjavalta nickel refinery in Finland. Nornickel shares are listed on the Moscow and on the Saint-Petersburg StockExchanges. Nornickel ADRs trade over the counter in the US and on theLondon and Berlin Stock Exchanges. Media Relations: Investor Relations: Phone: +7 (495) 785 58 00 Phone: +7 (495)786 83 20 Email: pr@nornik.ru Email: ir@nornik.ru --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The EquityStory.RS, LLC Distribution Services include RegulatoryAnnouncements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.Archive at www.dgap.de/ukreg --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: MMC Norilsk Nickel 1 st Krasnogvardeysky av., 15 123100 Moscow Russia Internet: www.nornik.ru ISIN: US55315J1025 WKN: A140M9 Listed: Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart; Open Market in Frankfurt ; London, Nasdaq Category Code: MSCH TIDM: MNOD Sequence Number: 3278 Time of Receipt: 29-Jul-2016 / 13:00 CET/CEST End of Announcement EquityStory.RS, LLC News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 487687 29-Jul-2016UK-Regulatory-announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.