Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel has announced that it expects to reduce its platinum and pgm production in 2006.

Revealing that it produced 751,000 Troy ounces of platinum and 3.133 million Troy ounces of palladium over the course of 2005, the firm went on to reduce its estimated output for the coming year.

It is the first time that Norilsk has provided details of its pgm output, as Russian rules had previously prevented such data from being published, meaning that there are no earlier figures for the 2005 results to be compared to.

The statement said that the company's platinum production will drop over the course of 2006 to between 690,000 and 700,000 Troy ounces, while its palladium output will fall to between 2.95 and 2.9 million Troy ounces during the year.

Norilsk did not give any explanation for the anticipated decline in 2006, but despite the expected fall in production the company is set to remain as the world's largest producer of palladium.

The results issued by Norilsk did not include any figures for its North American subsidiary, Stillwater Mining, with the results relating only to its Polar and Kola divisions in Russia.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd