PrJSC United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), which has taken over management of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovs’k region) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyr region), has resumed shipments of titanium raw materials (ilmenite) from its Irshansk branch to the European market.
According to the SPF press release, in October, UMCC started shipping ilmenite concentrate from IGOK to the Czech Republic. Under the contract, the company is to supply 30 thousand tons of finished products to the European market by the end of 2023. The customer is a company that produces titanium pigment TiO2, which is widely used in various industries for the production of consumer goods.
At the same time, it is explained that these are the first shipments of ilmenite from the Irshansk branch in 2023. Due to the martial law, destroyed logistics and constant shelling in 2022, the products accumulated in previous periods were stored in the company’s warehouses for almost more than a year, which was an obstacle to the resumption of new ore production.
One of the main tasks set by the State Property Fund for the new management board of UMCC is to establish exports and expand the geography of direct supply contracts. By the end of the year, our company plans to ship about 105 thousand tons of ilmenite concentrate to the European and American markets,” said Yegor Perelygin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of UMCC, as quoted by the press service.
The United Mining and Chemical Company began its actual operations in August 2014, when the Ukrainian government decided to transfer the property complexes of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VMMC, Dnipropetrovska oblast) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyrska oblast) to its management. Previously, these plants were leased to Firtash’s structures. Then the company was transformed into a PJSC and then into a PrJSC.
In August 2016, the government included UMCC in the list of companies to be privatized in 2017. Its deadline was postponed several times, and the tender was disrupted twice.
UMCC used to sell its products to more than 30 countries and was one of the world’s largest producers of titanium raw materials, accounting for 4% of the global market. The company mines titanium ore.
