Norilsk Nickel

   One of Russia’s largest publicly owned companies, Norilsk Nickel is a nickel and palladium smelting company jointly headquartered in Moscow and Norilsk-Talnakh in Taymyriya. The company also runs the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company in Murmansk. It is the largest producer of nickel in the world. Internationally, it has interests in Australia, South Africa, and Botswana; it also holds a majority stake in the American company Stillwater Mining. The company’s mining operations also include extraction of platinum, copper, and cobalt, as well as several rare earth elements. After Norilsk’s acquisition of the Russian mining company Polyus in 2002, it became the country’s largest gold producer. The country’s origins are rooted in the gulag system, which employed slave labor during the 1930s. Despite the harsh climate and inhospitable conditions, in later years, high wages attracted workers to the mines. In 1993, the firm was reorganized into a joint-stock company. Norilsk Nickel operations are of concern to environmentalists, as its smelting operations contribute to high levels of pollution in the sensitive Arctic ecosystem; Norway has been acutely affected by the company’s activities. Aleksandr Voloshin was named chairman of Norilsk Nickel on 26 December 2008. The oligarch Vladimir Potanin owns 30 percent of the company.

   See also Arctic Ocean.