Kolomoisky's ferroalloy plants, manganese mines suspend operations
MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - The Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NZF), Ukraine's largest producer of silicon manganese and ferromanganese, has shut down its furnaces for the winter due to possible restrictions in electricity and water supplies.
"In order to preserve furnaces, the administration of NZF decided to temporarily suspend production of ferroalloy products. Meanwhile, the plant will continue construction and repair work related to modernization of equipment and energy utility systems, which have been repeatedly damaged," Ukrainian media reported, citing a company statement.
All employees not engaged in this work will still get paid, in line with current legislation, the company said.
"We assure our partners that NZF commercial products are available at warehouses. Ukrainian producers will be supplied with ferroalloys if necessary," the company said.
Another major Ukrainian ferroalloy producer, the Zaporozhye Ferroalloy Plant (ZZF) also announced at the beginning of November that it would shut down furnaces due to possible electricity restrictions in the winter. The plant intends to conduct repairs on equipment to prepare for the resumption of operations after the end of the heating season.
"For stable operations the plant must be guaranteed supplies of electricity and water. Disruptions in electricity and water supplies have a negative impact on the technical condition of furnaces and are very costly. Every launch and heating up of a furnace involves substantial capital investments and production of off-grade ferroalloys," ZZF said.
It was reported earlier that Ukrainian manganese ore producers Pokrovsky GOK (PGOK) and Marganetsky GOK (MGOK) suspended mining and processing in October.
The former's CEO, Sergei Shuvayev said PGOK "is not closing, it's suspending mining of ore and production of concentrate to build up supplies and carry out repair work."
MGOK said that one of the reasons it was suspending production was the draining of the Kakhovka reservoir, which has made it impossible to refill process water tanks used to process manganese ore. In addition, gas and fuel oil heating at the whole production site and mine shafts was shut off for safety reasons.
ZZF, NZF, PGOK and MGOK were managed by Privatbank prior to nationalization. The metallurgy division of Privat Group was controlled by Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.