Mr Alexander Voloshin chairman of Norilsk Nickel said that it would make sense for the world's largest nickel miner to merge with other Russian metals companies after the financial crisis is over.

Mr Voloshin told Reuters the idea of uniting Russia's largest metals companies could potentially be resurrected after commodity prices recover and the companies involved sort out their individual debt problems.

Mr Voloshin, when asked whether Norilsk should merge with other metals firms, said that "In a crisis, no. But in principle yes.”

He however added that the company has no concrete plans for any such deal.

Russia's metals billionaires’ shelved plans to create a national mining group around Norilsk Nickel after the Kremlin opposed plans to absorb their billion-dollar debts in exchange for a stake in such a firm.

Metals and steel company owners had earlier proposed various schemes to offload debt by creating a Russian equivalent of the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton, and offering the state a minority stake.

(Sourced from Reuters)