Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group increased environmental spending at its enterprises by 2% year-on-year to $170 million in 2024, according to Metinvest’s presentation at the Barclays ESG Emerging Markets Corporate Day, published on the Irish Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
According to the presentation, the group increased its investments in energy efficiency projects by more than 50% in 2024 compared to 2023, spending about $17 million.
The document states that the group has benefited from the Black Sea Corridor opened in the second half of 2023: it helped to increase capacity utilization and open up effective access to remote markets, which in turn contributed to operational and financial results.
At the same time, the group’s operations at Pokrovskugol were suspended due to changing conditions on the frontline, energy supply shortages and the security situation.
The presentation notes that the global pricing environment remained volatile amid ongoing uncertainty caused by trade tensions in the United States, as well as other geopolitical and economic factors.
“Metinvest emphasized that with changes in supply chains, assets outside Ukraine have adapted to the new circumstances. Processing plants in Italy and the UK are now focusing on their local markets, with little or no Ukrainian supply. The plant in Bulgaria continues to use Ukrainian raw materials. American coking coal mines have increased their supplies to Ukrainian coke plants.
According to the presentation, Metinvest has been consistently fulfilling its environmental obligations even in times of war, prioritizing energy security management to ensure stable operation of its assets. Thus, the Group has purchased diesel generators and started installing gas piston units. It also plans to deploy solar power plants to increase energy autonomy at its production facilities in Ukraine, while critical repairs continue to keep dust and gas emissions below permissible levels.
In addition, Pivnichny GOK launched a project to thicken concentration waste to reduce the volume of sludge sent to the tailings pond.
Air emissions increased by 5% due to increased production at Northern GOK and Kametstal. Water consumption increased by 6% following the launch of an additional unit at Kametstal’s thermal power plant. The Group recycled and reused 92% of water consumed from all sources.
The volume of waste generated increased by 10%, reflecting higher capacity utilization at Northern GOK. Almost all of the waste was non-hazardous, mainly overburden and tailings from iron ore production.
The presentation states that Metinvest remains committed to the future of its green steel and continues to explore opportunities to move towards carbon neutrality, focusing on improving the quality of iron ore products at Northern GOK as its magnetite ores are well suited for pelletizing; Northern GOK is already capable of producing 2.3 million tonnes of high quality pellets per year, which are used in direct reduced iron technology. Efforts are also underway to build a new, state-of-the-art green steel plant in Italy in partnership with Danieli with a planned annual capacity of 2.7 million tons of low-carbon hot-rolled steel.
The way to decarbonize Metinvest’s Ukrainian assets will be determined after the active phase of the war is over and its impact is assessed.
As of the end of 2024, the Group’s adjusted headcount amounted to 40,535 thousand people (excluding employees with suspended employment), down 13% year-on-year. As of the end of 2024, about 6,000 employees served in the Ukrainian defense forces, which is 15% of the adjusted headcount.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. Its businesses are located in Ukraine, in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro regions, as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
