November 8, 2013. Russia's Nature Ministry and Rosnedra coordinated it with Mednogorsky Copper & Sulfur Works (MMSK), a member enterprise of Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company, that the launch of Yelanskoye and Yelkinskoye nickel deposits in Voronezh Region should be postponed, Kommersant refers to its own sources in the Russian Government as saying.

The newspaper says that MMSK applied to Rosnedra, asking to shift the date of the launch, as protests against the nickel development in the area actually jeopardize the company's meeting the licensing requirements. Rosnedra commission agreed to change the license terms, now the government has to sign this. This means that all the stages of the development project are put off by one year.

UMMC did confirm that they applied to the Nature Ministry, but offered no comment on the government's decision.

UMMC's clash with the environmental groups and the local Cossacks grew violent this year: in February, the company's geologists were attacked for the first time, and, following a protest picket on June 22, the picketers demolished the geologists' settlement, burned down the drilling rigs, and damaged their vehicles. On October 31, the Cossacks and the UMMC representatives agreed to cooperate. Their cooperation will consist in setting up a joint group of experts and carrying out the environmental surveillance procedures.