In 2023, compared to 2022, the Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex (Zhytomyr Region), which is part of the titanium business of Group DF, reduced the production of ilmenite concentrate by 78.7% to 22,100 tons.
This is stated in the message of the press service of Group DF, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
The company also reduced the production of ilmenite ore by 82.9% to 307,000 cubic meters.
According to the report, a significant fall in production volumes is due to the fact that during the 10 months of 2023 the company was forced to idle due to the decision of the Ukrainian Geological Survey to suspend special subsoil use permits for all mining and processing plants that are part of the titanium business of Group DF (Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex, Valki Ilmenite, Motronivskyi Mining and Concentration Complex).
At the same time, the work of the Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex resumed in November 2023, immediately after the court decision, which declared it illegal to suspend the license of the Ukrainian Geological Survey (the department complied with the court decision and returned the Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex license for the extraction of titanium ore on November 7, 2023).
"Group DF's entire titanium business has gone through a dramatic year. After 7 months of litigation, we received a positive decision in the court of second instance regarding the Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex. This allowed us to resume work, we returned people to production, began to pay salaries in full, increased tax deductions. During the forced shutdown, production and sales fell significantly, which led to a reduction in the wage bill by about 40% and the transfer of people to "downtime." In November, we restarted the mill and brought people back to work, but litigation continues. If we lose the third instance court (the Supreme Court of Ukraine), we will again be forced to stop the enterprise, which will lead to the dismissal of hundreds of our employees," said Dmytro Holik, director of the Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex.
According to Holik, from the ill-conceived state policy in the field of subsoil use, local and state budgets received direct losses.
"We can already publish specific figures for the year: in 2023, the Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex and Valki Ilmenite paid UAH 84.2 million in taxes and fees to budgets of different levels, while in 2022 this figure was UAH 185.4 million. Due to the suspension of the license, budgets of all levels have not received more than 100 million," he stressed.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in 2022, compared to 2021, the titanium business of Group DF reduced the production of ilmenite concentrate by 27% to 103,600 tons.
The maximum design capacity of the Mezhyrichenskyi Mining and Concentration Complex is 180,000 tons of ilmenite concentrate per year, and Valki Ilmenite - 65,000 tons.
Group DF is a diversified international group of companies whose business is represented in 11 countries in Europe and Asia.
The main activities of the group are nitrogen, titanium and gas businesses.
The founder and owner of Group DF is businessman Dmytro Firtash.
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