Ukraine's UMCC Titanium resumes operations at Irshansk ilmenite mine

MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - Ukraine's UMCC Titanium has resumed mining and processing of ilmenite concentrate at its Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IMPP) in Zhitomir region, which had been shut down since last October.

IMPP's Processing Plant No. 3 resumed operations on the July 5, and produced 220 tonnes of ilmenite concentrate in the first day's shift, Ukrainian media reported, citing a company press release.

"Launching IMPP after such a long halt was a number one priority task for all of us [...]," UMMC Titanium deputy CEO Dimitry Kalandadze said in the press release.

It was reported earlier that UMMC Titanium planned to restart operations at IMPP and was holding active negotiations on selling the branch's products to western partners. The company planned to reach a production level of 18,000 tonnes of ilmenite concentrate per month before the end of 2023.

UMCC began actual operations in August 2014, when the Ukrainian government decided to give it control of the assets of the Volnogorsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant in the Dnepropetrovsk region and IMPP. They were previously leased by businessman Dmitry Firtash. UMMC was later reorganized into a public joint-stock company and then into a private joint-stock company.

In August 2016, the government put UMCC on the list of companies slated for privatization in 2017. The privatization was postponed several times, with tenders called off twice.

UMCC previously sold its products to more than 30 countries and was one of the world's largest producers of titanium raw materials, with a 4% share of the global market.