Russian Copper Company inspired the creation of Russian Nickel Company - a new player on the nickel and cobalt production market. According to Russian Copper Company’s press officer, Russian Nickel Company consists of enterprises that possess licenses entitling them to development of cobalt and nickel deposits in Chelyabinsk Region and Altai Territory. The estimated volume of the known reserves comes to more than 440,000 tons of nickel, while the volume of the possible reserves reaches over 714,000 tons.

This year, the company is to handle the basic design and start the construction of an ore mining and processing plant in Chelyabinsk Region, while the construction of a plant in Altai Territory will begin at the end of 2009. The project will be developed by the Finnish Outotec (formerly known as Outokumpu Technology Oy). Each plant’s initial productivity is expected to come to 10,000 tons of nickel and 1,000 tons of cobalt a year.

By 2012, Russian Nickel Company’s accumulated capacity will have reached 40,000 tons of nickel and 4,000 tons of cobalt a year; it will then take the company nineteen years to use up all the deposits.

The initial investments in the project have been estimated at $640m. Russian Copper Company’s press officer reports the project will pay off within five years.