Norilsk

Norilsk (Russian: Нори́льск, IPA: [nɐˈrʲilʲsk]) is a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located south of the western Taymyr Peninsula, around 90 km east of the Yenisey River and 1,500 km north of Krasnoyarsk. Norilsk is 300 km north of the Arctic Circle and 2,400 km from the North Pole. It has a permanent population of 182,701 (2021), and up to 220,000 including temporary inhabitants. It is the second-largest city in the region after Krasnoyarsk. Since 2016, Norilsk's population has grown steadily. In 2017, for the first time, migration to the city exceeded outflow; In 2018, according to Krasnoyarskstat, natural population growth amounted to 1,357 people: 2,381 people were born, 1,024 people died.

It is the world's northernmost city with more than 180,000 inhabitants, and the second-largest city (after Murmansk) inside the Arctic Circle. Norilsk and Yakutsk are the only large cities in the continuous permafrost zone.

Norilsk is located atop some of the largest nickel deposits on Earth. Consequently, mining and smelting ore are the major industries. Norilsk is the center of a region where nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium, and coal are mined. The presence of mineral deposits in the Siberian Craton was known for two centuries before Norilsk was founded, but mining began only in 1939, when subterranean portions of the Norilsk-Talnakh intrusions were found beneath mountainous terrain.

In 2004, two satellite cities (Talnakh and Kayerkan) became districts of the city of Norilsk, and Oganer became a suburb of Norilsk's Central District. The jurisdiction of Norilsk also extends to the settlement of Snezhnogorsk, which originated in 1963 as a settlement to accommodate the builders of the Ust-Khantai Hydroelectric Power Station.

Access to Norilsk is restricted for foreign citizens, who are required to obtain special permission to visit the city.