ENGRA to start producing silicon dioxide in Siberia by 2027, invest upwards of 350 mln rubles

TOMSK. Sept 5 (Interfax) - ENGRA LLC plans to build a silicon dioxide production facility in Tomsk Region in 2023-2026 at a cost of about 350 million rubles, though investment could grow to 1.7 billion rubles, company CEO Alexei Kovinenko said at a meeting of the council for improving the region's investment climate on Monday.

"We're prepared to make an investment of up to 350 million rubles, although given the amount [of silicon dioxide demand in industry] that the Industry and Trade Ministry gives us for all sectors, the amount of investment could reach 1.7 billion rubles if we're talking overall about all phases of the plant's construction. The investment phase with construction presumes the launch of the plant in the fourth quarter of 2026," Kovinenko said.

"We're planning to go into the design already in December of next year, maybe we'll go a little ahead of schedule. For us the main problem in Tomsk was to find a site that does not need to be prepared from scratch. The greenfield cycle is another eight to nine months," he said.

ENGRA is considering building the plant as part of the industrial cluster near the Tugansky GOK mine and processing plant, which already has ready infrastructure. Another possibility is acquiring an unfinished building or the premises of some bankrupt enterprise. The raw material for the plant will be sand from Tugansky GOK.

The main customers for the new plant's products will be tire manufacturers, to which up to 70% of output will be shipped. The other 30% will be supplied for production of components used in dentistry.

"The actual product is silicon dioxide, which has several areas of application. Specifically, in the construction sector, medicine, the food industry and industrial rubber goods, which for us are the priority. [...] If we're talking about [silicon dioxide's] content in tires, its 20% to 40%," Kovinenko said.

Russian tire makers previously imported silicon dioxide from Germany and China.

ENGRA plans to launch a pilot line with capacity of 5,000-10,000 tonnes per year, while Russian tire producers alone need 20,000 tonnes per year.

ENGRA and Tomsk Region reached an agreement on building a silicon dioxide plant in the region at the Innoprom exhibition in Yekaterinburg in July 2023.

ENGRA was incorporated in 2017 in Moscow with charter capital of 10,000 rubles, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities showed. It applied for re-registration in Tomsk in August 2023. The company is owned by CEO Kovinenko, who also owns a law firm. ENGRA reported a net profit of 400,000 rubles for 2022, although its financial statement did not show any revenue.

At the beginning of 2023, Tomsk Region Governor Vladimir Mazur called for establishing an industrial cluster based around Ilmenit Tugansky GOK. All of the necessary infrastructure, including available land and utility networks, exist for launching production facilities based on Ilmenit, he said. Investors in the cluster were expected to launch production of silicon dioxide and liquid glass in 2026, although the actual investors were not named.