Energy & Science
Nornickel Shutters Dirty Copper Smelter in Push to Go Greener
- Smelter on the Kola Peninsula is one of Nornickel’s dirtiest
- Closure will help cut sulfur-dioxide emissions by 85%
Photographer: Lev Fedoseyev/TASS/Getty Images
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Russia’s MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC is shutting its oldest copper smelter amid mounting pressure for metals producers to clean up their aging and dirtiest operations.
The facility in Nickel on the Kola Peninsula near the Norwegian and Finnish borders was partly why Norway’s sovereign wealth fund blacklisted the miner a decade ago. Wednesday’s closure of the smelter -- which had been announced a year ago -- will help Nornickel to cut sulfur-dioxide emissions in the area by 85% from 2015 levels, when it started its current ecological program.