MMC Norilsk Nickel (MNOD)
NORNICKEL HOSTS 2019 ANNUAL CAPITAL MARKETS DAY: EXPANDING THE HORIZONS OF
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
18-Nov-2019 / 13:00 MSK
Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information
according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR), transmitted by EQS Group.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
PRESS RELEASE
November 18, 2019
Public Joint Stock Company "Mining and Metallurgical Company "NORILSK
NICKEL" (PJSC "MMC "Norilsk Nickel", "Nornickel" or the "Company")
NORNICKEL HOSTS 2019 ANNUAL CAPITAL MARKETS DAY:
EXPANDING THE HORIZONS OF SUSTAINABLE GROWTH
London - on November 18, 2019 Nornickel, the world's largest producer of
palladium and high-grade nickel and a major producer of platinum and copper,
hosted its annual Capital Markets Day.
The Company's management has presented operating and financial updates,
progress in the implementation of strategic projects, commodity markets
outlooks and provided its strategic vision until 2030.
10-year strategic vision
Owing to its unique commodity basket and the world's best Tier-1 mining
resources, Norilsk Nickel believes that it is best positioned to support the
world's shift to clean mobility. Cars' hybridization and electrification and
global tightening of emissions standards are the two megatrends that
anticipated to drive significantly higher the demand for the core Norilsk
Nickel products through 2030. In addition, owing to the technological
breakthrough program the knowledge of our vast resource base has materially
improved, which enabled a smooth transition to a longer-term planning:
· A strategic ambition has been set for Taimyr operation, holding more
than 2 billion tonnes of ore in mineral resources, to increase mined ore
volumes by 75% to 30 million tonnes per annum;
· 2030 strategic ambitions for the annual production of core metals have
been set as follows: 15-30% growth of nickel production to 250-280kt,
copper - 20-40% growth to 520-560kt, and combined palladium and platinum
growth of 30-95% to 160-205 t;
· Long-term strategic ambitions assume successful development of recently
approved South Cluster mining project, realization of new brownfield
projects at the core Talnakh deposit, further upgrades and debottlenecking
of downstream assets, and phased development of Arctic Palladium JV, that
has been confirmed as a Tier-1 asset, but pending the final investment
decision and due corporate approvals.
The management estimates that Norilsk Nickel products in 2030 can supply
enough PGMs to produce 25-40 million auto catalytic converters, which
combined would lead to a reduction of 170-270 million tons of air pollution
over catalysts' life cycle. In addition, we believe that we could supply
enough nickel to produce 3.5-5.5 million nickel-rich EV battery packs, which
could reduce global CO2 emissions by 50-100 million tonnes over EV's life
cycle.
Holistic environmental programme
The Company has adopted a new comprehensive environmental program, 'Sulfur
programme 2.0' that now aims at achieving best-in-class industry standards
for sulfur capturing. The Company considers its Sulphur Programme 2.0 as a
staged journey, with the following milestones set for Polar Division in
terms of SO2 reduction (compared to base year 2015):
· almost 2x (or 45%) by 2023;
· 10x (or 90%) by 2025;
· 20x (or 95% +) by 2030+ as a strategic aspiration and subject to a new
project.
For Kola operations, SO2 reduction targets have been set as follows:
· 2x (50%+) by 2020;
· 7x (85%) by 2021;
· complete eradication of pollution in the cross-border area by 2021.
In terms of climate change, the Company already has one of the lowest carbon
footprints among mining majors as renewables account for more than 40% of
its electricity consumption with the balance coming from low-carbon natural
gas. The management intends to continue working on transition to
international standards in sustainability reporting enhancing disclosure in
climate change-related topics.
Sustainability of the financial model during peak investments period
To support growth and comprehensive environmental program, the Company
announced a new long-term capital investments outlook, split in 3 phases. At
Phase-1 of scaling up construction works CAPEX is steadily growing from USD
2.5-2.8 billion in 2020 to USD 3.0-3.4 billion in 2021, reaching an
investment peak of an average up to USD 3.5-4 billion per annum in the
period of 2022-2025. In 2026-2030, CAPEX is scheduled to decrease back to
historical average level of less than USD 2 billion per annum.
Active phase of major investment projects execution will require rebalancing
of the Company's capital distributions. As maintaining conservative balance
sheet and the investment grade credit rating remains the priority for the
management, the Company believes that dividends should moderate in
2023-2025. Once the new projects enter cash generation phase post 2025,
dividends should recover, with the target being to maintain industry leading
shareholder returns through the 10-year cycle.
Commenting on new strategic plan Nornickel's President Vladimir Potanin
said,
"Diligent execution on our long-term strategy combined with supportive
commodity tailwinds helped us to deliver outstanding total shareholder
returns in the last six years, well ahead of our peers. Now it is time to
make a next step and advance further with pursuing our long-term growth
ambitions, but also take on more ambitious environmental targets. We firmly
believe in the critical role that Norilsk Nickel will play in enabling the
world to get greener and mobility to get cleaner. However, we also believe
that in such world it will be not less important of how green we will be
ourselves".
Available links:
The Strategy Day presentation [1]
The webcast of the event [1]
This announcement contains inside information in accordance with Article 7
of EU Regulation 596/2014 of 16 April 2014.
Full name and position of person making the announcement - Vladimir Zhukov,
Vice - president, Investor Relations
ABOUT THE COMPANY
PJSC «MMC «NORILSK NICKEL» is a diversified mining and metallurgical
company, the world's largest producer of palladium and high-grade metal
nickel and a major producer of platinum and copper. The company also
produces cobalt, rhodium, silver, gold, iridium, ruthenium, selenium,
tellurium, sulphur and other products.
The production units of «NORILSK NICKEL» Group are located at the Norilsk
Industrial District, on the Kola Peninsula and Zabaykalsky Krai in Russia as
well as in Finland and South Africa.
PJSC «MMC «NORILSK NICKEL» shares are listed on the Moscow and on the
Saint-Petersburg Stock Exchanges. PJSC «MMC «NORILSK NICKEL» ADRs are traded
over the counter in the US and on the London, Berlin and Frankfurt Stock
Exchanges.
Media Relations: Investor Relations:
Phone: +7 (495) 785 58 00 Phone: +7 (495) 786 83 20
Email: pr@nornik.ru Email: ir@nornik.ru
ISIN: US55315J1025
Category Code: MSCH
TIDM: MNOD
Sequence No.: 29742
EQS News ID: 915011
End of Announcement EQS News Service
1: https://link.cockpit.eqs.com/cgi-bin/fncls.ssp?fn=redirect&url=322a00431f6f1a72df0633c49416fe41&application_id=915011&site_id=vwd&application_name=news
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2019 05:00 ET (10:00 GMT)
