De Beers shines light on budding jewellery designers

Diamond giant De Beers will this year conduct its bi-annual Shining Light Awards jewellery design competition. De Beers beneficiation manager Kagiso Fredericks told Rough & Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview they set aside 4.5 carats...

22 july 2024

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club mulls diamond safari tours in southern Africa

DiaMondaine Diamantaires Club (DDC) is set to organise diamond safari tours in southern Africa, home to major diamond-producing countries. DDC founder Agnes Abdulahu told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa that the launch of the first diamond safari...

15 july 2024

Vladislav Zhdanov: Questions of efficiency and investment potential of diamond mining versus diamond growing pique keen interest

Vladislav Zhdanov is Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE). He told Rough&Polished about new researches into the effectiveness of diamond production methods.

02 july 2024

Why it's expensive to cut and polish diamonds in Africa? ADMA president António Oliveira has the answer

The African Diamond Manufacturers Association (ADMA) president António Oliveira told Rough&Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that the lack of a robust infrastructure in Africa fails to accelerate and encourage manufacturing...

24 june 2024

Edahn Golan: IPO feasible but not Anglo’s preferred way to sell De Beers

Edahn Golan, owner of the eponymous Edahn Golan Diamond Research and Data, told Rough&Polished's Mathew Nyaungwa in an exclusive interview that while an IPO of De Beers is “feasible,"  he does not think this is a route Anglo American...

17 june 2024

Nornickel's board approves 2024 budget

03 january 2024

Nornickel’s Board of Directors has approved the company’s budget for 2024. Capital expenditures will amount to around $3.6 billion.

In the upcoming year, the company will continue with its strategy of moderate growth and sustainable development, encompassing pivotal investment projects with a focus on mining and processing growth, equipment upgrade and replacement to enhance occupational health and safety, energy and fuel infrastructure modernisation, and reduction of its environmental footprint, primarily through the Sulphur Programme.

Among other things, 2024 will see further replacement of mining equipment within Norilsk Division and important repairs of the flash smelter at Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant.

Next year, Nornickel will place particular emphasis on implementing its social strategy, prioritising the regions where it operates. The company will go ahead with its comprehensive plan for renovating the Norilsk Industrial District while also tackling a range of other social challenges. Also, Nornickel plans to conduct wage indexation to maintain its position as one of the most attractive employers in the industry.

The company continues to address emerging challenges associated with finished product sales, resource and equipment supplies, inflationary pressure, rising taxes, and debt portfolio management.

Against this backdrop, upholding Nornickel’s financial resilience remains a strategic priority. To that end, the 2024 budget lays out a suit of initiatives designed to boost operational efficiency, curb inflationary cost growth and adapt the sales strategy to the prevailing environment while also improving investment performance and working capital management.

The management team appreciates the support of the Board of Directors in approving the budget for the upcoming 2024 year. This budget incorporates measures to address the elevated external and internal challenges and is aligned with the company’s medium-term plans and strategic objectives. We reaffirm our commitment to conservative leverage levels and our investment programme targets without losing our focus on human resource retention and strengthening, ensuring the reliability of our fixed assets, reducing our environmental impact, making social investments across the company’s footprint, and upholding stringent occupational health and safety standards,” said Sergey Malyshev, the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Theodor Lisovoy, Editor in Chief of the European bureau, Rough&Polished