Nornickel to establish mining equipment joint venture with BelAZ in Krasnoyarsk Territory

MOSCOW. April 23 (Interfax) - Norilsk Nickel Mining and Metallurgical Company , which has been experiencing a shortage of new Western mining equipment since 2022, plans to build a joint venture with Belarusian BelAZ in the Krasnoyarsk Territory to produce the equipment for its own needs, Maxim Kotelnikov, Director of Industrial Asset Management at Nornickel's Polar Division, said on Thursday at the Mining World forum.

The facility in Sosnovoborsk will be designed to produce 150 units of mining equipment per year; the lease documents for the site have already been received, Kotelnikov said.

Adapting mining equipment from new suppliers in the face of the closure of access to products from Western industry leaders is one of the reasons for the decline in metal production in 2025, the company previously said.

"We actively use Chinese equipment, though we have also taken another path, we are developing cooperation with BelAZ," Kotelnikov said on Thursday.

Nornickel signed an agreement with Belarus' BelAZ mining truck manufacture in 2025. The company already operates six BelAZ mining trucks, and last year launched a load-haul-dump truck.

"We are ready for a new stage, when the company will develop its own equipment. (...) This is not easy - global vendors have been striving for reliable vehicles for decades. But we, together with BelAZ, have all the necessary developments, engineering, and design expertise," Kotelnikov concluded.

Nornickel, in collaboration with Krasnoyarsk enterprises, is also overhauling equipment that has reached the end of its service life: three units are already at a high level of readiness and will be added to the fleet this summer, with a total of 10 units planned, he added.

BelAZ is one of the world's largest manufacturers of mining trucks and transport equipment for the mining and construction industries. Before the imposition of Western sanctions, the plant held approximately 30% of the global market for extra-heavy-duty mining trucks.

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