Southern Mining in Ukraine reduced iron ore concentrate output by 23% in April

Metinvest’s Southern Mining and Processing Plant in April 2022 reduced the production of iron ore concentrate by 22.9% compared to March, to 316.9 thousand tons. In April 2021, the plant produced 1.03 million tons of iron ore, company’s press service reported on its Facebook.

“It is already third months of Southern Mining wartime work. The company implements a program of concentrate production. Each employee is working to get closer to victory as soon as possible,” the statement reads.

Some plant’s products were shipped to Zaporizhstal, as it is impossible now to send raw materials to Asia and North Africa.

In January-April, Southern Mining produced 3.1 million tons of concentrate, which is 1 million tons less than in the same period last year.

Despite the difficulties, Southern Mining is modernizing its capacity. The plant has completed the modernization of the first ore beneficiation plant’s power supply station. This will increase the reliability of the technological sections №9-10 and the vacuum pump shop.

Earlier GMK Center reported, that Southern Mining announced a reduction in the capacity of its facilities because of war hostilities. The decision to suspend several technological sections of the concentrating process was made due to failure to ship products by seaports to Asia, and North Africa.

Southern Mining and Processing Plant is one of the main producers of iron ore in Ukraine. Its specialization in the extraction and enrichment of poor iron quartzite to obtain iron ore concentrate (67.7% iron). Production capacity of the plant: 29 million tons of raw ore and 11 million tons of concentrate per year. Southern GOK is owned by Metinvest Group and Lanebrook Ltd.

As reported by GMK Center, in 2021 the Southern Mining increased the production of iron ore concentrate by 5.5% compared to 2020, up to 13.5 million tons. The production was the highest in 30 years.