Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel produced 1,160 tons of cobalt in the first half of 2008 and has revived a plan to build a refinery to produce high-purity cobalt metal, the company said.

"A project to build cobalt refining facilities on the Kola peninsula is in the approval phase," a Norilsk spokeswoman said. The Kola peninsula in northwest Russia is the smaller of Norilsk's two Arctic mining and metal production centres.

The spokeswoman declined to provide more details, including the proposed capacity or commissioning date of the refinery.