The United Mining and Chemical Company PJSC (UMCC), which controls the Volnogorsky Integrated Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VMMC, Dnipropetrovsk Region) and the Irshansky Integrated Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyr Region), has resumed operations at the IGOK after a long downtime since last October.
According to the company’s press-release, IGOK is restoring its capacities.
At the same time it is noted that beneficiation plant No. 3 was launched on July 5, and the concentrate will be processed using a dry scheme.
During the shift, the employees of IGCC produced 220 tons of ilmenite concentrate.
Dmitry Kalandadze, deputy chairman of OGKhK’s board, explained that the launch of the IGOK after a long downtime was a priority for the company.
“We know how important it was for our employees at the branch. Today some of them are already at their workplaces. Now we are on the threshold of global changes in the titanium industry, where OGKhK, as a state-owned company, has all chances to take leading positions and push Russia out of the international market forever. I’m sure that the launch of IGCC is a good signal for international partners and I hope that by the end of the year we will be able to achieve stable figures,” said Kalandadze, who was quoted by the press service.
Earlier, it was reported that OGCC plans to resume operations at Irshanskoye and bring the branch to pre-war production levels by the end of 2023. At the same time, the company is actively negotiating to sell products of IGOK to Western partners and plans to enrich ilmenite concentrate by the end of this year at 18 thousand tons per month.
The United Mining and Chemical Company began its actual activities in August 2014, when the Ukrainian government decided to transfer the property complexes of the Volnogorsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (VMMC, Dnipropetrovsk Region) and the Irshansk Mining and Processing Combine (IGOK, Zhitomir Region) to its management. Earlier these plants were leased by Firtash’s structures. Then the company was transformed into a PAO, and then – into a PrJSC.
In August 2016, the government put OGCC on the list of companies to be privatized in 2017. Its deadline was postponed several times, and the tender was twice thwarted.
Previously, OGHK sold products to more than 30 countries and was one of the world’s largest producers of titanium raw materials, accounting for 4% of the global market. The company produces titanium ore.
