All Required Regulatory Approvals Obtained for Norilsk Nickel Offer for LionOre

OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel ("Norilsk Nickel" or the "Company") today announced that with the receipt of Investment Canada approval yesterday in respect of its all-cash offer for all of the issued and outstanding shares of LionOre Mining International Ltd ("LionOre") (Toronto Stock Exchange symbol: "LIM"; London Stock Exchange symbol: "LOR"; Botswana Stock Exchange symbol: "LIONORE") all regulatory approvals required in connection with Norilsk Nickel's offer have now been obtained.

Denis Morozov, the Company's General Director, stated today that "Norilsk Nickel is pleased to have completed successfully the process of receiving all required regulatory approvals within such a short timeframe. We look forward to LionOre shareholders tendering their shares before the expiration of our offer on June 28, after which Norilsk Nickel intends to complete the acquisition of all outstanding shares of LionOre".

On May 23, 2007, Norilsk Nickel announced its increased all-cash offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of LionOre for aggregate cash consideration of approximately Cdn$6.8 billion. The offer is open for acceptances until 8:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on Thursday, June 28, 2007. All acceptances must be received prior to this time.

Full particulars of the offer are set out in the offer and offering circular as amended by the notice of variation and notice of extension, each as filed by Norilsk Nickel. These documents are available on the Canadian Securities Administrator's website at www.sedar.com under LionOre's company profile, and on the Company's website at www.nornik.ru/en.