MMC Norilsk Nickel has launched a programme aiming to install an integrated system of quality control and the management of environmental protection at its main operational divisions meeting the requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:1996 international standards. An advisor will be appointed to develop and implement installation of such system.
The process is scheduled to complete at the Head Office of MMC Norilsk Nickel in Moscow and at the Kola MMC (a subsidiary of MMC Norilsk Nickel located in the Murmansk region) during the course of 2003 - 2004. At the Polar division of MMC Norilsk Nickel (located in Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk region) the programme is due to complete by 2005. The quality management system at the Severonickel Combine of Kola MMC has already been certificated by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI) as satisfying the international standard ISO 9000:1994.
Simultaneously, the Company is planning through a series of organisational and technological arrangements to achieve improvements in the main areas of environmental protection, including atmospheric protection, the preservation and rational exploitation of water, soil preservation, and rational and ecologically friendly processing of industrial waste.
Norilsk Nickel together with Outokumpu (Finland) and Boliden (Sweden) are developing a special technology to utilise sulphur dioxide (the main sulphuric ores processing waste product) adapted to the conditions of the Far North. The development of a programme providing for a more efficient use of water and lower industrial sewage at the company's factories has been initiated, together with a project to build a waste recycling plant for the environmentally friendly recycling of solid domestic waste suitable for the Far North conditions.
The Polar division’s 2001 environmental expenditures increased to 3.9 billion roubles compared with 2.8 billion roubles in 2000, while Kola MMC spent 0.8 billion roubles in 2001 (104 million in 2000). The Polar division’s air pollution in 2001 decreased by 1.6 per cent from 2000, including a 1.4 per cent reduction in sulphur dioxide emission, and a 10.8 per cent reduction in solid elements. At Kola MMC the total air pollution decreased by 7 per cent in comparison with 2000, including a 6.8 per cent reduction of sulphur dioxide emission and a 17.2 per cent reduction in solid elements.