“Metinvest, Ukraine’s largest mining and metals holding, increased its total production of iron ore concentrate (IOC) by 87% year-on-year to 8.892 million tonnes in January-June this year, and pellets by 25% to 3.193 million tonnes, but reduced its total output of coking coal concentrate by 31% to 2.085 million tonnes.
According to the operating report of the parent company Metinvest B.V. on Monday, the production of commercial iron ore products more than doubled to 8.021 million tons, and the production of commercial iron ore concentrate increased 3.4 times to 5.023 million tons, which was facilitated by the unblocking of Ukrainian Black Sea ports from August 2023 and an increase in the order book for coking coal pellets.
It is noted that due to limited electricity production in Ukraine due to Russian shelling since mid-March 2024 and high demand for imported electricity, its cost affects the workload and configuration of the group’s mining and processing plants.
At the same time, Metinvest distributes the workload of its mining and processing plants based on the availability of electricity, its cost, market prices for iron ore products and other factors to ensure efficient production.
As a result, in Q2 2024, total iron ore production decreased by 17% quarter-on-quarter to 4.033 million tonnes, while the output of commercial iron ore products decreased by 13% to 3.814 million tonnes, including the production of commercial iron ore pellets, which decreased by 22% to 2.205 million tonnes. At the same time, the production of commercial pellets remained almost at the level of the previous quarter at 1.609 million tons.
According to the report, the group’s coal concentrate production in 2Q2024 decreased by 8% quarter-on-quarter to 999 thousand tons.
It is noted that the main factor behind this was a 12% decline in production at Pokrovske Coal Group (Ukraine) to 562 thousand tons, among other things due to the planned redistribution of mining operations in view of the capacity of production sites.
United Coal Company’s (USA) production of coal concentrate remained almost at the level of the previous quarter – 437 thousand tons. It is noted that in 1H2024, the group’s coal concentrate production decreased by 31% mainly due to a 39% decrease in production at United Coal Company due to the suspension of production at Carter Roag mines and a decrease in production at some Wellmore mines. In addition, Pokrovske Coal Group’s coal concentrate production decreased by 25% mainly due to optimization of mining operations due to changes in mining and geological conditions.
“Metinvest comprises steel and mining companies located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States. Its major shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
