Palladium and nickel producer Nornickel has agreed with Russia's Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) to negotiate a potential settlement in kind of the claim filed by the agency against a subsidiary of the company.
Rosrybolovstvo is claiming 58.7-billion ruble, about R805-million, for the reimbursement of the damage to fish resources caused by a diesel fuel spill incident at an emergency storage facility of a heat and power plant in Norilsk last year.
On petitions of the parties, the Arbitration Court of the Krasnoyarsk region has put on hold the judicial examination of the case by 60 days for the two parties to negotiate the voluntary settlement.
The parties will negotiate the terms of the joint development agreement and approval procedure, and implementation of the plan aiming at the rehabilitation of the biological aquatic resources of the Norilsk-Pyasino river system impacted by the diesel fuel spill incident.
Nornickel says a voluntary settlement is the most efficient instrument to support prompt and full rehabilitation of the impacted aquatic biological resources and the ecosystem.