The Investment Promotion Office (UkraineInvest) has received 23 requests from potential investors for a total of $1.35 billion within the framework of the adopted law on “investment nannies,” UkraineInvest Executive Director Serhiy Tsivkach told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of Hyperloop 3.0 organized by the Biosphere Corporation in Lviv.
“As of today, we have 23 projects. The 24th is being confirmed. The total amount is $1.35 billion. I think that after this event, the pipeline will increase by another 500 million,” Tsivkach said.
According to him, now UkraineInvest employs about 14 people in this direction. “Some of them work directly with investors, some do their homework. We try to ensure that one manager has 7-10 projects,” the head of UkraineInvest said.
He said that the government has already adopted four by-laws necessary for the launch of the investment nannies mechanism in practice.
“We are still expecting three acts: on keeping the register of projects, requirements for feasibility studies and methodology for calculating the amount of state aid. I think that within a month, God forbid, we will be able to process the first applications and submit them to the Ministry of Economy,” Tsivkach said.
In connection with the launch of the land market in Ukraine, which will start working on July 1, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry of Justice and the State Tax Service will publish clarifications on a number of important issues related to the sale of land, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said.
“Next week, the land market will start working in Ukraine. From July 1, Ukrainians will be able to exercise their legal right and independently dispose of land plots. In this regard, this week I instructed the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry of Justice and the State Tax Service to issue clarifications on the launch of the land market, the work of notaries and maximally assist in resolving issues that Ukrainians may have,” Shmyhal wrote on Facebook on Sunday.
He noted that the government has also made changes to the procedure for maintaining the State Register of Rights to Real Estate, which will ensure the correct sale procedure and the correct disclosure of all information in the register.
AGRARIAN MINISTRY, JUSTICE MINISTRY, LAND MARKET, TAX SERVICE
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food is negotiating with companies from Israel, the United States, France and China regarding public-private partnership in the reconstruction of irrigation systems in the southern regions of Ukraine, Minister Roman Leshchenko said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“These are projects with main canals, pumping stations, systems for the sale of both drinking and irrigation water. Now we are negotiating with companies from Israel, the United States, France and China in terms of such a public-private partnership,” he said.
According to Leshchenko, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, during a meeting on the state of irrigation of lands with representatives of relevant ministries on June 9, instructed to prepare relevant projects on reclamation systems.
“The logic of the prime minister is that, given the uniqueness of our irrigation system, we need to scale the corresponding project through the prism of the expertise of world-renowned companies that can offer integrated solutions for both drip irrigation and the use of sprinkler machines, the use of main canals, and also the latest technologies of an intelligent water supply system,” the minister said.
He said that the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is currently negotiating with world leaders in irrigation, but cannot disclose their details yet.
As the minister said, there is an interest in companies with experience and the possibility of expertise in the implementation of large reclamation projects.
Ihor Liski, a businessman and a Chairman of the Board of Effective Investments Group, announced the start of gold mining in Nicaragua in the San Albino project of Mako Mining Corp. listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
“The project at the San Albino mine, which was attended by private investors, has started, and I think that by the end of the second quarter we will debrief this in a report,” he told Interfax-Ukraine during the opening of the protein supplements plant Feednova (Busk, Lviv region).
Mako Mining previously said that in the second half of May, all components of the 500 tonnes per day gravity and carbon carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant were fully operational and the plant was reaching over 75% of rated capacity. Processing of raw materials with an average gold grade of 16.5 grams per tonne began on May 12, 2021, but the exact data will be provided later.
“[…] provided that the processing plant continues averaging these levels for the remainder of the quarter, Mako expects to be in a position to declare commercial production on July 1, 2021,” the company said.
It said that an average of 982 tonnes per day of raw material have been mined since the beginning of April. The stockpile is now approximately 105,856 tonnes and is comprised of 17,596 tonnes of diluted vein material at 15.37 grams per tonne gold and 88,260 tonnes of historical dump material at 2.47 grams per tonne gold for a total of 15,687 ounces of gold.
Mako Mining also said that the company’s cash balance, which had decreased due to the about five-week delay in the plant’s start-up, has now begun to improve as gold is being sold. “Provided that the plant continues to operate at its current throughput, the company expects to generate enough cash flow from operations to continue funding exploration and servicing debt,” the company said in a report on May 20, adding that a comprehensive operating update is expected in July.
In the summer of 2016, Liski announced on Facebook that he was building a gold mine in Nicaragua, but currently it is about open pit mining.
According to Mako Mining’s presentation, its main shareholders are funds managed by Wexford Capital LP – 51.8%, management and directors – 8.2%, Stephens Investment Management – 4.1%, and another 35.9% belong to other shareholders. Interfax-Ukraine has not yet obtained information on the amount of Liski’s participation in this project.
According to the presentation, it is about a project in the Nueva Segovia region, 173 km north of Managua, and plans to double processing capacity in 2022. Measured and indicated mineral resources are 95,400 ounces with a grade of 9.54 grams per tonne, and inferred ones are 62,000 ounces with a grade of 8.5 grams per tonne.
The market capitalization of the company from March to June increased from $166.7 million to $219.2 million, debt remained at $21.5 million, and free cash decreased from $1.4 million to $1 million.
The Eastern Partnership Summit will take place in December, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell said in Brussels on Thursday following a meeting with the foreign ministers of the three Eastern Partnership countries – Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
The ministers of the three countries visited the EU capital for the first time in the format of the so-called Associated Trio.
“This year is an important year for the Eastern Partnership. Together with the Commission, we are in the process of finalizing the post-2020 agenda, which contains concrete deliverables and targets. Our Eastern Partnership summit will take place in December. I understand that all of us are sorry for the fact that it has [previously] been postponed, as has also happened with other summits. But in December, when this summit will take place, we will have an opportunity to set this new agenda in motion, and to agree on a common vision for the future,” he said.
Borrell said the EU is looking forward to further development of relations with the countries of the Eastern Partnership, which are “based on the principles of inclusivity and differentiation. Both have to be taken together and this will require flexibility from both parts.”
TOP 20 COUNTRIES UKRAINE HAS POSTED THE HIGHEST SURPLUS OF TRADE IN GOODS JAN-MARCH 2021 (THSD USD)
