Norilsk Nickel buys stake in US mining company

Norilsk Nickel and the US-based Stillwater Mining Company have signed a number of agreements on purchasing a 51 percent block of shares (45.5m common shares) in the US company by Norilsk Nickel. The stake is to be bought for $100m and about 876,000 oz of palladium, which is some $241m taking into account palladium prices in London on November 19, 2002, the two companies declared in their joint statement.

The deal, which is expected to be finished in the first half of 2003, has been already approved by the boards of directors of the companies.

Mikhail Prokhorov, general director of the Russian company, said that "the considerable resource base of Norilsk Nickel and well-run relations of Stillwater with consumers will provide for an advance in the level of reliability of palladium supplies and will increase the volume of supplies to the North American market".

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