The board of directors of MMC Norilsk Nickel has approved the company’s 2017 budget, Norilsk Nickel said in a press release.

Total capital expenditures for 2017 have been budgeted at USD2 billion, including USD450 million for the Bystrinsky project. In accordance with the strategic priorities of the company, all commercial projects should deliver industry-leading returns on investments.

Norilsk Nickel’s 2017 budget is based on conservative commodity price assumptions and envisages capital investments in the active development of highly profitable brownfield upstream projects in the company’s polar division, a further upgrade of refining capacities at the Kola division, as well as important health, safety, and environmental initiatives.

The company also plans to launch the Bystrinsky project in line with a schedule that will boost Nornickel’s copper and gold output from 2018 to 2020.

“The 2017 budget approved by the board of directors is well balanced and fully sufficient to fund our strategic investments even amidst a volatile macro environment. In 2016, we have managed to control costs and deliver on our capital expenditures on time and on budget. The 2017 budget allows us to maintain our rational investment profile and further improve the operating efficiency to generate high return on capital,” Nornickel’s CFO and senior vice president Sergey Malyshev stated.

MMC Norilsk Nickel is Russia’s largest diversified mining and metallurgical company, the world’s leading producer of nickel and palladium and one of major platinum, rhodium, copper, and cobalt producer. Besides, the company produces a wide range of byproducts, including gold, silver, tellurium, selenium, iridium, and ruthenium. The mining and processing assets of the MMC Norilsk Nickel group are located in the Norilsk industrial area, the Kola Peninsula, as well as in Finland, the U.S., Australia, Botswana, and South Africa.

The IFRS net profits of Norilsk Nickel for the first half of 2016 decreased by 13 percent to USD1.304 billion from USD1.493 billion relative to the figure for the corresponding period of 2015. Consolidated revenues decreased by 22 percent to USD3.843 billion, mainly due to lower metals prices and a one-off decrease of metal production due to the downstream reconfiguration in the polar division. The EBITDA decreased by 34 percent to USD1.795 billion. Capital expenses grew by 24 percent to USD706 million.

According to AK&M Information Agency’s DataCapital information retrieval system, the RAS net profit of MMC Norilsk Nickel for the first half of 2016 decreased by 10.84 percent to RUB91.117 billion (USD1.50 billion) from RUB102.19 billion (USD1.69 billion) registered in the prior year. Revenues decreased by 7.19 percent to RUB202.786 billion (USD3.34 billion) from RUB218.499 billion (USD3.60 billion). Sales profits fell by 24.94 percent to RUB106.466 billion (USD1.76 billion) from RUB141.833 billion (USD2.34 billion). Pre-tax profits declined 10.2 percent to RUB113.537 billion (USD1.87 billion) from RUB126.434 billion (USD2.09 billion).