It also has holdings in Nikel, Zapolyarny, and Monchegorsk on the Kola Peninsula, in Harjavalta in western Finland, and in South Africa.

[7] In 2012, Potanin's Interros holding, Rusal, and Roman Abramovich signed a shareholder agreement on the size of dividend payouts to end a conflict over the matter, as well as issues around the company's broader strategy and management.

Nevertheless, the working and living conditions in Norilsk remain harsh, although they are improving as the company shuts down old factories that are the source of excessive pollution.

[13] In July 2000, Norilsk Nickel joined forces with the St. Petersburg Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic (Russian: Арктический и антарктический научно-исследовательский институт), to investigate the potential use of decommissioned nuclear powered submarines, both from the United States and Russia, to transport materials along the Northern Sea Route (Russian: Северный морской путь (Севморпуть)).

Decommissioned Typhoon submarines were expected to transport up to 12,000 tonnes of supplies and nickel between Dudinka and either Murmansk or Arkhangelsk.

[14] In 2000, the Murmansk Shipping Company (MMP or MSCO) (Russian: Мурманское морское пароходство) provided icebreaker services at a charge of $11.35 per tonne of cargo.

[17] Throughout 2007, Norilsk acquired a host of mining and metallurgical assets abroad, transforming into a multinational company with operations in Australia, Botswana, Finland, Russia, South Africa, and the United States.

[18][19] On February 27, 2008, Norilsk Nickel diversified into the coal mining industry through North Star LLC by obtaining mining rights to the amount of 33.6 million rubles for the estimated 5.7 billion tonnes of coal at the Syradasai Field near the port of Dikson (Russian: Диксон) in the Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District (Russian: Таймыр).

[20] The only competitor for the rights to the Syradasai Field was Golevskaya Mining Company LLC (Russian: ООО «Голевская горнорудная компания»).

[21] The Syradasai Field is 105 to 120 km southeast of Dikson in the Taimyr-Turukhansk support zone (Russian: Таймыро-Туруханской опорной зоны).

[22][23] A 120-kilometer road and railway was expected to connect the deep-sea port on Cape Chaika to the massive coal deposit by 2019.

[23][24] In 2016 Nornickel ranked below 65 other oil, gas and mining companies in a list of 92 involved in onshore resource extraction above the Arctic Circle, in terms of handling indigenous rights.

[28] Due to sanctions, Norilsk Nickel planned to move some of its copper smelting to China and establish a joint venture with a Chinese company.

[46] The district's first mineral resources were discovered in the 1840s when Alexander von Middendorff's expedition found the local coal deposits.

[47] In the early days of the Soviet Union, Nikolay Urvantsev's expeditions revealed several industrially significant deposits.

[51] The rights to some of the cluster's deposits belong to Russian Platinum, but the corporation is unable to start mining because Nornickel, which controls the remote area's infrastructure, is blocking access.

The plans include open-pit mining in the eastern field section with an option for the subsequent underground development of its western part.

Its proven resources include over 100 kinds of ore minerals, many of which were previously unknown to science: talnakhite, godlevskite, shadlunite, taimyrite, sobolevskite, mayakite, and more.

[60] The company currently has five core operational divisions in three countries: Norilsk Nickel is known to be one of Russia's largest industrial polluters, releasing approximately 1.9 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide into the air annually as of 2020,[63] accounting for 1.9% of global emissions.

[64] The pollution originating from the Kola division of the company was also affecting Norway,[65] which has been offering financial support to clean up the operation since 1990.

[66] In 2008, Rosprirodnadzor (the Federal Environmental, Industrial, and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia) demanded that a 4.35-billion ruble ($60-million) fine be imposed on Nornickel for polluting minor rivers with wastewater.

[citation needed] In 2010, Vladimir Putin visited Norilsk and complained about the pollution, threatening a “significant increase in environmental fines” if the company did not modernize its plant.

[67] In 2016, Norilsk Nickel admitted that a spillage at one of its facilities had been responsible for a river in the Russian Arctic turning blood-red.

[citation needed] At the end of 2016, Nornickel signed a contract with Canadian company SNC-Lavalin to introduce sulfur dioxide filtration and storage technologies on its plant in Norilsk[70] in what was lauded as one of the largest environmental projects of its kind.

To honor its commitments, the company shut down Kola MMC's smelting shop in Nikel in 2020, eliminating 100% of sulfur dioxide emissions near the Russia-Norway border, followed by its copper smelter in Monchegorsk in March 2021.

Combined with Nornickel's other green initiatives, these steps are expected to ensure an 85% decrease in sulfur dioxide pollution in the Murmansk Region by late 2021.

[77] [78] On May 29, 2020, a Soviet-era fuel storage tank owned by Nornickel subsidiary Norilsk-Taimyr Energy (NTEK) collapsed, flooding the nearby Daldykan River with some 20,000 tonnes of diesel.

[86][87] Russia's Far North, including the Taymyr Peninsula,[88] is heating up faster than anywhere else in the country, melting the permafrost on which many structures stand.

[92][93][94][95] In December 2020, the company reported, citing a research paper, that the population of mussels in Kokemäenjoki had been recovering, purporting that the water protection measures had been successful and the burden on the river had been reduced.

Nornickel also attempted to operate Nakety/Bogota, a nickel mine on the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific, in partnership with Argosy Minerals of Australia but has withdrawn from this project.