Canadian mining company Black Iron Inc. which is implementing the Shymanivske iron ore project in Ukraine is trying to attract investors to its project and to the recovery of Ukraine.
According to a press release on Thursday, Black Iron Inc. Matt Simpson recently participated in the annual United States Export Import (EXIM) conference in Washington, D.C., which brought together more than 1,200 investors, development finance agency representatives, policymakers, and companies for the event “Mobilizing the Private Sector. Capital for the Recovery and Rebuilding of Ukraine”.
It is specified that the panel was attended by Oscar Levnovsky, founder and CEO of Orion Resource Partners, Natalie Jaresko, managing director of EY-Parthenon, and Iryna Paliashvili, chairman of the US-Ukraine Business Council, who shared their ideas on the possibilities of investing in the restoration of Ukraine and the creation of a US-Ukraine reconstruction investment fund.
It is also added that Matt will participate in a keynote panel on iron ore at the upcoming Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (CIM) CONNECT 2025 conference in Montreal on May 7, 2025, along with other panelists — Iron Ore Company of Canada CFO Zonika Ramsey, ArcelorMittal Canada Greame Weeks COO and Quebec Iron Ore COO Alexandre Bello.
In October 2010, Black Iron acquired a Cypriot subsidiary from the EastOne investment group of Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk Geo-Alliance Ore East Limited along with licenses for $13 million, then renamed it BKI Cyprus. The main assets are 99% in Shymanovske Steel and Zelenivske Steel (both in Dnipro).
In July 2013, after a number of problems with the project, Black Iron Inc. announced an agreement with the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical group Metinvest to develop its iron ore assets. Metinvest B.V. paid $20 million to Black Iron Inc. and acquired a 49% stake in BKI Cyprus. However, Metinvest later withdrew from the project.
The Shymanivske iron ore deposit is surrounded by five other active mining companies, including ArcelorMittal’s iron ore complex. Black Iron believes that the infrastructure, including access to electricity, railways, and port facilities, will allow the project to be implemented quickly to the production stage.
According to a presentation from May 2021, the expected capital investment in the launch of the first stage is estimated at $452 million, and the second at $364 million. The project envisages the construction of a premium iron ore plant with an iron content of over 68% with a capacity of 4 million tons per year at the first stage and 8 million tons per year at the second stage.
