Norilsk Nickel says its palladium and platinum production figures are on target and has pledged to offer more details on its reserves in a sign of the drive towards transparency at the Russian pgm giant.

The firm said it produced 355,000 ounces of platinum and 1.483 million ounces of palladium during the first half of this year in its Taimyr (Polar Division) and the Kola Peninsulas (Kola MMC) and vowed to continue the modernisation of the company's reporting procedures.

The mining and metallurgical company said in a press statement that it "continues to constantly improve its disclosure and transparency standards", having previously guarded its platinum and palladium plans as a state secret.

Tav Morgan, Norilsk Nickel’s deputy general director, said the firm would expand its standard quarterly production release to include platinum and palladium production figures from late 2005.

The move follows months of incremental change at Norilsk, with final government approval to disclose data on its platinum group metals given in June.

Mr Morgan said that palladium and platinum production for 2005 is still in line with the company’s production plan.

He predicted that the group would produce around 3 million ounces of palladium and 700,000 ounces of platinum for the full year. The figures do not include metals mined by Stillwater Mining.

Norilsk Nickel is the world’s largest producer of palladium and one of the biggest platinum producers, accounting for around 4.3 per cent of Russian exports each year.


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