A Japanese and Austrian company are interested in capital investment in Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine said on its Twitter page posting photos of a meeting of Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv with a delegation headed by Hiroshi Ishikawa responsible for the Iron Unit Division at Kobe Steel.
“The group of companies has designed a new technology for processing oxidized ores and it is interested in building a complex on the basis of Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill,” the ministry said.
The press service of the ministry told Interfax-Ukraine that along with Kobe Steel, Austria’s Hares Engineering GmbH also showed its interest in the mill.
“These are Kobe Steel and Austria’s Hares Engineering GmbH. We have decided to shape an action plan. The ministry is interested in cooperation with them. The ministry is interested in leasing the property of Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill. We will report later on concrete results of negotiations,” the press service of the ministry said.
According to a report of the ministry on Twitter, Kubiv pointed out the importance of attracting Ukrainian construction and engineering companies to construction of the complex on the basis of the Kryvy Rih mill.
Kobe Steel’s interest in the Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill was reported back in the second half of last decade. In particular, in March 2009, during a visit of the then-Minister of Industrial Policy of Ukraine Volodymyr Novitsky to Japan, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Industrial Policy, Kobe Steel and Hares Engineering to consider the introduction of ITMk3 technology (Ironmaking Technology Mark Three) at the mill. It was planned to create a working group to draft concrete proposals.
The construction of the mill started in 1985. The assessed total investment required to complete the construction and launch the Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mil, according to preliminary data, was about $800 million.
