Published on 03/10/2021 at 1:23 p.m.
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Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) goes to checkout. After a decision of the Russian justice, the mining giant “made 146.2 billion rubles (1.66 billion euros at the current rate, note) of necessary payments for the damage caused to the environment following the leak of diesel from May 29, 2020 “near the arctic city of Norilsk. The money is intended for the federal budget. Some 21,000 tons of fuel were then spilled into several rivers after the collapse of a tank of a thermal power plant belonging to a Nornickel entity which had not carried out the work the need for which had been established in 2018.
At the material time, the group considered that the accident could have been caused by the thawing of the permafrost – or permafrost -, a consequence of climate change, which would have led to the collapse of the pillars supporting the cistern. This pollution had created a huge red tide, visible from space. Thorough cleaning of the area should take years. The main shareholder of the group is Vladimir Potanin, the richest man in Russia according to the Forbes ranking, and close to the Russian president, with whom he played ice hockey in particular.
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This proximity did not save him the wrath of the president who, after the announcement of the disaster, had ordered that the company should bear all the cleaning costs, which the group was initially reluctant to do (offering a good sum lower) before complying. The company, one of the biggest polluters in Russia, according to specialized NGOs, seems since to seek to green its image. She recently said she “learned an important lesson” and wanted to “drastically review her approach to environmental risk management”.
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Nornickel has also announced in recent months the closure of a copper smelter and another nickel smelter on the Kola Peninsula (Murmansk region, north-west of the country), places considered among the most polluted in the world due to particularly sulfur dioxide emissions. In February, Nornickel suffered another disaster: three people were killed and five others injured in a collapse at a metallurgical plant of the group also located in Norilsk, which has since been shut down. “According to preliminary data, the accident occurred due to a flagrant violation of safety rules and industrial safety standards,” Nornickel said. The group later said that two of its mines had also been closed until at least March 16, and that inspections were underway.
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