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{{Other uses|Nickel (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Russian inhabited locality
|en_name=Nikel
|ru_name=Никель
|image_skyline=Панорама Никеля 2.jpg
|image_caption=Mid-July 2011 view of Nikel
|coordinates={{coord|69|24|50|N|30|13|55|E|display=inline,title}}
|map_label_position=bottom
|image_coa=Coat of Arms of Nikel.png
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|federal_subject=[[Murmansk Oblast]]
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|adm_district_jur=[[Pechengsky District]]
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|adm_ctr_of=Pechengsky District
|adm_ctr_of_ref=<ref name="OKATO" />
|inhabloc_cat=Urban-type settlement
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|mun_district_jur=Pechengsky Municipal District
|mun_district_jur_ref=<ref name="MurmanskOPechengskyD_mun">Law #539-01-ZMO</ref>
|urban_settlement_jur=Nikel Urban Settlement
|urban_settlement_jur_ref=<ref name="MurmanskOPechengskyD_mun" />
|mun_admctr_of=Nikel Urban Settlement
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|pop_2010census=12756
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|postal_codes_ref=<ref name="Postal">{{cite web|url=http://info.russianpost.ru/servlet/department?action=show_info&depID=17063|script-title=ru:Информация об объекте почтовой связи|publisher=[[Russian Post]]|access-date=March 16, 2010|language=ru|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200637/http://info.russianpost.ru/servlet/department?action=show_info&depID=17063|archive-date=March 3, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|dialing_codes=81554
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'''Nikel''' ({{langx|ru|Ни́кель}}, lit. ''[[nickel]]''; {{langx|sms|Koolâsjokk}}, {{langx|no|Nikkel}}, {{langx|fi|Kolosjoki}}) is an [[types of inhabited localities in Russia|urban locality]] (an [[urban-type settlement]]) and the [[administrative center]] of [[Pechengsky District]] of [[Murmansk Oblast]], [[Russia]],<ref name="OKATO">{{OKATO reference|47 215}}</ref> located on the shores of [[Lake Kuets-Yarvi]] {{convert|196|km|sp=us}} northwest of [[Murmansk]] and {{convert|7|km|sp=us}} from the [[Norway–Russia border|Norwegian border]] on {{jct|country=EUR|E|105 }}. Population: {{ru-census2010|12,756|;}} {{ru-census2002|16,534|;}} {{su-census1989|21,838|;}} 18,000 (1973).

==History==
In the [[Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Finnish)|1920 Treaty of Tartu]], [[Russian SFSR|Soviet Russia]] ceded the area of [[Pechengsky District|Petsamo]] to [[Finland]].<ref name="ATSBook54">''Administrative-Territorial Division of Murmansk Oblast'', p.&nbsp;54</ref> In the 1930s huge reserves of nickel were found on [[fell]]s nearby. The amount was estimated to be five million tons. In 1934, the Finnish government awarded the mining right to the British Mond Nickel Co, subsidiary of International Nickel Co ([[Vale Inco|Inco]]), that founded the Petsamon Nikkeli Oy mining company. The company began building a railway, as well as other infrastructure, between the town, then known as Kolosjoki, and [[Liinakhamari|Liinahamari]] harbor.

In the [[Winter War]] of 1939–1940, the Soviet Union occupied Petsamo. In the following [[Moscow Peace Treaty|peace agreement]] only the Finnish part of the [[Rybachy Peninsula]] was ceded to the Soviet Union, although the Soviets had occupied all of Petsamo during the war. In summer 1940, the Finnish government took over the mines from the British company. The first mining operations began in the same year. During [[World War II]], the ore was mainly sold to Germany. The hydro power plant in [[Jäniskoski]] started operations in 1942, making it possible to smelt the ore locally.

In December 1943 [[Albert Speer]], German Minister of Armaments and War Production, flew on an inspection tour to Kolosjoki, which by then was the sole supplier of nickel to the Third Reich. Captured during the invasion of Russia, the mines’ ore heaps remained in the yards and had not been shipped out due to a priority of bomb-proofing the power station and smelter. By placing the power plant security on a lower priority, Speer was able to make the transportation shipments of the vital ore to Germany move quicker.<ref>Speer, Albert. 1970. Inside the Third Reich. New York: Macmillan. Page 382.</ref>

In 1944, the [[Red Army]] occupied Petsamo, and Finland had to cede it to the Soviet Union as part of the [[Moscow Armistice]] signed on September&nbsp;19, 1944.<ref name="ATSBook54" /> Retreating German forces destroyed the power plant and partially the smelter. On July&nbsp;21, 1945, the Presidium of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]] decreed to establish Pechengsky District with the administrative center in Nikel on the ceded territory and to include this district as a part of Murmansk Oblast.<ref name="ATSBook54" />

==Ecology==
[[File:Norilsk Nickel in Nikel.jpg|thumb|left|Norilsk Nickel plant in Nikel]]
The town is linked to the [[MMC Norilsk Nickel|Norilsk Nickel]] plant Kola MMC nearby where many of its citizens have been employed and which has caused environmental and health concerns for the population. The [[nickel smelter]] which has been an eyesore in [[Norway–Russia relations]] for decades due to its extreme pollution levels has usually deposited its [[sulfur dioxide]] fumes to the south of the town where the countryside is a brown moonscape of bald hills, barren of plant life for kilometers around.<ref name="mtimes">{{cite news|author=Antonova, Maria|title=Balancing Growth and Environment|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/369177.htm|work=[[The Moscow Times]]|date=July 25, 2008|access-date=2008-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803173348/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/600/42/369177.htm|archive-date=August 3, 2008|url-status=bot: unknown|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In the summertime, the toxic fumes which for the rest of the year rarely blew northwards towards the town occasionally did just that, making breathing difficult and even [[Acid rain|burning holes]] in people's umbrellas.<ref name="mtimes" />

The nickel smelter closed down in 2020.<ref>[https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic-mining/2023/05/mining-comes-end-nikel "Mining comes to end in Nikel"], The Barents Observer, 12 May 2023</ref>  This led to a strong improvement in water and air quality in the region.<ref>[https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/sharp-decrease-heavy-metals-norwegian-russian-border-river  "Sharp Decrease in Heavy Metals in Norwegian-Russian Border River"], High North News, 14 February 2023</ref>

==Recent events==
The video of [[English people|English]] [[alternative rock]] band [[White Lies (band)|White Lies]], ''[[Farewell to the Fairground]]'', was filmed there in early 2009.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

==Sister City==
*{{Flagicon|Norway}} [[Kirkenes]], [[Norway]]<ref name="img.custompublish.com">[http://img.custompublish.com/getfile.php/757851.893.qxxdqttbyc/BAIRepr2008_02.pdf?return=www.barentsinstitute.org The model of twin cities] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221537/http://img.custompublish.com/getfile.php/757851.893.qxxdqttbyc/BAIRepr2008_02.pdf?return=www.barentsinstitute.org |date=March 3, 2016 }} Barents Institute Reprint (2008) no. 2</ref>

==References==
[[File:Apartment buildings in Nikel.jpg|thumb|Apartment buildings in Nikel]]

===Notes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{Cite book|last=Архивный отдел Администрации Мурманской области. Государственный Архив Мурманской области.|title=Административно-территориальное деление Мурманской области (1920-1993 гг.). Справочник|publisher=Мурманское издательско-полиграфическое предприятие "Север"|year=1995|location=Мурманск}}
	
{{Murmansk Oblast}}
		
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}

[[Category:Urban-type settlements in Murmansk Oblast]]
[[Category:Monotowns in Russia]]
[[Category:Pechengsky District]]