Marhanets mining plant ceases production due to Russian attacks and water shortage since Kakhovka dam was blown up

The Marhanets Mining and Processing Plant in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which mines and processes raw manganese ore, ceased operations this October, largely due to the effects of Russian attacks.

Source: the company website

There are several reasons why the plant has stopped operating.

The main one is Russian military aggression. The occupiers’ actions have led to a shortage of water in the Kakhovka reservoir, which has made it impossible to replenish the technical water tanks that are used to concentrate the raw manganese ore.

Another reason is Russian artillery attacks on the facilities and infrastructure of the plant’s industrial site.

Russian attacks have damaged communications, buildings and facilities, and a great deal of time and money will be needed to repair the infrastructure of the plant. Repairs are impossible while the occupiers are on the left bank of the Dnipro River.

The Hrushivka Concentrating Mill (HCM), which was badly damaged following several strikes, has borne the brunt of the Russian artillery attacks. The ceiling at the ore reception building of HCM-1 has been partially damaged and 90% of the window apertures have been destroyed.

Gas and oil heating has been switched off across the entire industrial site and in the mines, since heating these kinds of fuel is extremely risky in wartime.

The lack of water for concentration of the ore extracted at the mines and the quarry has become a particular problem. The water shortage has been gradual, not abrupt.

Last year the HCM was forced to stop operating because there was less and less technical water in the plant’s reverse cycle, but the plant was able to continue operating by buying technical river water from centralised networks of the city’s water supply utility. The city of Marhanets and all adjacent territories, including the Marhanets HCM, were left without water after the Russians blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP).

For a while, the plant was able to carry out some operations without the raw manganese ore processing cycle, with only the mines that extracted it still functioning. The underground mines that were still operational were worked out, but there was no point in reactivating the pits that had been made ready for future work, as the mined ore was being put into storage and not processed.

For these reasons, the company has been obliged to stop mining, it said in a statement.

The plant is currently idle, but some employees are involved in repair work so that operations can be resumed successfully and safely in the future.

Background:

• The Marhanets Mining and Processing Plant is developing the eastern part of the Nikopol manganese ore deposit (Hrushivka-Basan section). The plant consists of four mines, one of which is under construction, the Hrushivka quarry and a concentrating mill.
• The Marhanets Mining and Processing Plant’s main shareholders are Couttenmax Holdings Limited, Mosfilia Investments Limited and Humax Enterprises Limited, each of which owns a 23.8933% share, and Fianex Holdings Limited, which owns a 24% share. All are Cypriot entities.

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