Production at a Siberian mine owned by Norilsk Nickel has been halted following an ore outage.

A skip lifting ore to the surface collapsed at the Komsomolsky site on Sunday, causing a severe outage that could last up to three weeks, a company spokesman said.

Despite the accident, the company claims that it will still meet its full year production forecasts.

Copper and nickel are thought to be the main commodities at the Komsomolsky mine, although the company has declined to reveal production figures.  PGM's are a by-product of Noril'sk-Talnakh mines.

The Komsomolsky mine is one of three sites based on the Talnakh deposit close to Norilsk in northern Siberia. They are believed to have produced around 3.45 million tonnes of ore last year.

The firm, which generates around a sixth of the world's nickel, said earlier this month that is was worried about the price of the metal after it soared to its highest price for 19 years.

It has laid the blame with consumers, claiming that they are buying too much through spot markets.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd