Pokrovsk Mining expects to resume manganese ore production in 2025

Pokrovsk Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK), the largest manganese ore producer in Ukraine, is considering resuming production in 2025 after a one-year break. Due to the decline in demand for ferroalloys and the energy crisis, the plant was unable to resume operations in 2024, but there are hopes for a return to stable operations in 2025. This is stated in the corporate publication “For Manganese,” Interfax-Ukraine reports.

According to Chairman of the Board Sergiy Shuvaev, in the first half of 2025, the company may resume operations at the Chkalovsk Concentrator. The company plans to launch the facility to enrich ore stored in warehouses. If the situation on the steel market improves and demand for ferroalloys recovers, the plant intends to launch Severny and Aleksandrovsky open pits in the middle of the year.

In 2024, a significant decline in demand for ferroalloys and a shortage of electricity forced the plant to shut down its quarries and factories. The cost of electricity, which has risen sharply, continues to be one of the main problems.

“Electricity is getting more expensive every month. Compared to October, when the total price of the resource was UAH 7.2 per 1 kW, in December its cost rose to UAH 7.9. Starting January 1, 2025, the cost of electricity transmission has increased by almost 30%, along with all other components of the tariff. This increase will bring the plant UAH 300 thousand of additional expenses per month, which is a very large amount for a company that is not operating,” said Alexander Petrovets, Chief Power Engineer of the plant.

Due to financial difficulties, the plant was forced to lay off 1656 employees in 2024. This, according to the management, was an anti-record for the company and significantly affected the morale of the team.

At the same time, the plant continues to implement important projects. One of them is the reconstruction of the CPP for the production of carbonate concentrate and the resumption of water supply through a new water pipeline.

However, the resumption of production will depend on the stabilization of the economic situation in Ukraine and the global ferroalloy markets. The plant hopes for positive changes in 2025, which will allow it to return to active mining and processing of manganese ore.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Pokrovsk GOK suspended full operations in early November 2023. The main reasons for the suspension were the economic downturn in demand and the cost of manganese products, as well as the instability of energy supply. The decline in demand was due to the shutdown of the plant’s main consumers, Ukrainian ferroalloy plants. At the end of the first half of 2024, the enterprises started operating at minimum capacity.