Norilsk Nickel, the Russian metals giant, has announced an agreement with fellow metal miner Rio Tinto to explore areas of Siberia and eastern Russia.

The firms are hopeful that their efforts will discover currently untapped sources of metal, including platinum, palladium and other pgms, as they seek to improve their precious metal production capacity.

As demand for metals, particularly platinum, continues to soar across the world, concerns have been raised in some quarters over the long-term sustainability of mining the metals, with the potential for supplies to run out in the relatively near future a real possibility.

However, Norilsk and Rio are hoping to stave off such fears by entering into a joint research and exploration agreement which will see them take a much closer look at the mining potential of the currently under-explored regions in eastern Russia and Siberia.

"The aim of the joint venture will be to create a viable economic model of co-operation to accelerate and enhance exploration for new mineral resources in Russia, thereby promoting the mineral wealth and economic development of the regions," announced Norilsk chief executive Mikhail Prokhorov.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd