Zavallja A visit to a graphite mine in Central Ukraine is like a journey to the past. Excavators are from the previous century, and the Malmi enrichment factory is decaying.
Therefore the CEO of the Zavallja mine My skin expects to be eager to sign a mineral agreement with the United States. He believes that the contract will turn the mine in the better.
– Without investment, we will not survive. We need them for mining, replacing old technology with a new and enrichment factory renewal, Semko says.
Ukraine and the US on a mineral contract Missing anymore signature. According to the agreement, the United States can access the natural resources of Ukraine. Ukraine, on the other hand, commits the United States to participate in Ukraine’s rebuilding.
To this end, the countries set up a common fund, which is guided by half of the profits from the sale of mineral resources.
The Zavallja mine is Europe’s largest graphite deposit. The same montus is also raised from the praid and rock material.
The deposit was discovered in the 1930s, and mining began in 1964. There have been no major investments in the mine or factory since.
Graphite has many uses
Mining Director Semko is confident, as the United States is particularly interested in the so -called critical minerals in Ukraine.
Graphite is familiar to ordinary people from pencil. It is also needed, for example, in car brakes, paints and colors, and high voltage lines.
In the defense industry, graphite is used, for example, on bullet vests. In a nuclear reactor, the graphite acts as a retarder for neutron.
Therefore, the graphite is by the US Geological Survey of the Geological Survey 50 on the list of critical minerals. About a quarter of these minerals are abundant in Ukraine.
One hundred percent of the graphite used in the United States is imported from abroad. Almost half of the 60,000 tonnes imported last year came from China.
The Zavallja mine in Ukraine employed more than 250 people in the best years before the offensive war launched by Russia. Now there are only 90 employees. Many have been mobilized into the armed forces, even though the company applied for a deferral for them.
It is difficult to get a skilled workforce, as training in the field requires time. Ihor Semko, Executive Director of Mine, believes that with foreign investments, the mine will have new jobs and new employees for many years.
– We get vitality in the community, people get livelihoods and the state’s tax revenue, Semko paints the prospects for the future.
The old -fashioned factory is an energy cancer
There is a 60-year-old graphite ore enrichment factory on the side of the mine. It only works when there are orders. During the winter months, operations are completely stopped as energy costs would bounce into the clouds.
An old -fashioned factory is also energy -efficient. Energy costs account for about 40 % of the price of the final product. The company does not have its own solar or wind turbines, so it costs the market price for electricity.
Factory’s chief engineer Valeri Harkovets says that if you have an investment in Zavallia, you should not renew the old factory, but need to build a new, energy efficient plant elsewhere.
– A significant part of the graphite deposit is located directly under the current plant. That’s why you have to build a whole new factory, it will be cheaper, Karkovets explains.
Semko and Karkovets look at the future as optimistic: last year the factory was made with particularly clean graphite sent to foreign lithium -ion batteries for testing.
– If they qualify for the quality of our graphite, the mine may be facing a whole new period, says Semko, Executive Director.
“The presence of investors increases security”
The mineral agreement, which the United States and Ukraine is supposed to sign, is only a framework agreement. If and when the contract comes into force, it will require changes to at least Ukraine’s budget, tax and mining legislation.
Ukraine hoped the mineral agreement would include security guarantees from the United States. During his visit to Washington’s visit to the president Volodymyr Zelenskyi quoththat the agreement must be at least the first step to them.
Last week US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio commentto not interpret a mineral agreement as a security guarantee.
“But if the United States has financial interests that generate income for both our own citizens and the people of Ukraine, we have an interest in protecting them if they are threatened or challenged,” Rubio said.
Founder of the Ukrainian Mining Industry Association Oxana orynyshak believes that the presence of foreign investors in Ukraine will increase security anyway.
“For us, investments in soil natural resources would automatically mean defending the regions,” says Oryshak.
– If hundreds of millions of dollars are built and hundreds of millions of dollars are installed, placing air defense or soldiers in the area is not a major problem.
According to Oryshk, Ukraine should have negotiated mineral contracts with other countries as early as the 1990s:
Up to 70 percent of the occurrence still underground
There are still about 7.5 million tonnes of graphite in Zavallja’s quarry. That’s enough for more than ten years.
According to Ihor Semko, Executive Director of the Zavallja mine, investments would also help to take advantage of still underground deposits. According to him, 50-70 % of Ukrainian mineral deposits are still unused.
“A mineral agreement would help every company with a mining permit but has not been able to start operations,” Semko says.
Last Friday from the Ukrainian President’s Office were notifiedthat the United States and Ukraine may sign a mineral agreement with remote connection. Ukrainian minister of euro fert According to Olha Stefaninishyna The agreement may be signed “at any moment”.