MOSCOW, March 13 (Reuters) - The board of Russian mining giant Nornickel has rejected a proposal by shareholder and aluminium company Rusal to replace the board's chairman, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Rusal had proposed replacing current chairman Andrei Bugrov from Nornickel chief executive Vladimir Potanin's Interros holding company with independent director Evgen Shvarts.

"A majority of board members voted against Rusal's proposals," the source said.

(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)