At present, there are 39 enterprises in the Geological work department of Ukraine, among which 13 are enterprises directly under the state directly engaged in first-line underground resource exploration. Much of the industry is semi-paralyzed because of a lack of capital and economic instability. In order to improve the situation, the Government of Ukraine issued the Regulations on the Transformation of the Geological and Underground Resources Exploration sector, which established a unified policy on the restructuring of the sector and the exploration, use and protection of underground resources. It clearly stipulates that except the original 13 state-owned exploration enterprises will remain state-owned, the other enterprises will be transformed into joint-stock enterprises, which can be further transformed into a variety of forms of mixed ownership economic entities, including foreign-shared enterprises or wholly foreign-owned enterprises; Through structural reform and industrial reform, the former sectors are transformed into new production and operation entities, thus obtaining investment from both budgetary and extrabudgetary channels; Streamline the industry, eliminate layers of management, and reduce management to reduce costs.
At present, more than 2,000 enterprises in the Ukrainian mining sector are exploiting and processing underground mineral deposits. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, 20 percent of Ukraine’s labor force worked in mining enterprises, guaranteeing more than 80 percent of the country’s natural resources demand, 48 percent of national income came from mines, and 30-35 percent of its foreign exchange reserves came from mining underground resources. Now the economic downturn and lack of capital for production in Ukraine are having a big impact on the exploration industry, and even more on the upgrading of technical equipment in the mining industry.
In February 1998, the 80th anniversary of the Geological Exploration bureau of Ukraine released a data showing that: The total number of mining areas in Ukraine is 667, mining varieties in about 94, including a large number of mineral varieties needed in industrial production. Experts in Ukraine have put the value of the mineral deposits underground at $7.5 trillion. But western experts put the value of Ukraine’s underground reserves at more than $11.5 trillion. According to the head of Ukraine’s State Geological Resources Management Committee, this assessment is a very conservative figure.
Gold and Silver Mining in Ukraine began in 1997 with 500 kg of gold and 1,546 kg of silver mined in the Muzhyev area. The Ukrainian-Russian joint venture then mined 450 kg of gold at the Savynansk mine in late 1998.
The state plans to produce 11 tons of gold a year. In order to achieve this goal, Ukraine needs to introduce at least us $600 million of investment in the first stage, and the annual output in the second stage will reach 22-25 tons. The main difficulty now is the lack of investment in the first stage. Several rich deposits in the Transcarpathian region of western Ukraine have been found to contain an average of 5.6 grams of gold per ton of ore, while good deposits can contain up to 8.9 grams of gold per ton of ore.
According to the plan, Ukraine has already carried out exploration in the Mysk mining area in Odessa and the Bobrikov mining area in Donetsk. The Bobrikov mine is a small area with estimated gold reserves of about 1, 250 kilograms and has been licensed for exploitation.
Oil and gas Ukraine’s oil and gas deposits are mainly concentrated in the carpathian foothills in the west, the Donetsk-Dnipropetrovsk depression in the east and the Black Sea and azov Sea shelf. The highest annual production was 14.2 million tons in 1972. Ukraine has few proven mineral resources to supply its own oil and gas. Ukraine is estimated to have 4.9 billion tons of oil reserves, but only 1.2 billion tons have been found ready to be extracted. Others need further exploration. According to Ukrainian experts, the shortage of oil and gas, the total amount of oil reserves and the level of exploration technology are not the most urgent issues at present, the key problem is that they cannot be extracted. In terms of energy efficiency, Although Ukraine is not among the least economical countries to use energy, it has lost 65% to 80% of its oil production and utilization of its oil fields. Therefore, it is imperative to improve the technical level and seek high-level technical cooperation. At present, Ukraine has made contact with some of the top foreign industry giants, but the final cooperation agreement will have to wait for the introduction of Ukraine’s national policy, especially the clear elaboration of the terms of product division. According to the Ukrainian geological survey of the budget, if you want to get oil and gas mining concessions in the Ukraine, the enterprise must first invested $700 million for mineral exploration, the normal mining and processing need at least 3 billion a year – $4 billion of cash flow, including each drilling a well will need at least 900 million was the investment.
Uranium Uranium is a strategic underground resource of Ukraine, which is estimated by the International Atomic Energy Agency to have the fifth largest reserves in the world.
The former Soviet union’s uranium mines are mostly in Ukraine. In 1944, a geological exploration team led by Lavlinko mined the first uranium deposit in Ukraine to secure uranium for the Soviet Union’s first atomic bomb. After years of mining practice, Uranium mining technology in Ukraine has reached a very high level. By 1996, uranium mining had recovered to 1991 levels.
The mining and processing of uranium in Ukraine requires significant financial input, but more important is the strategic cooperation with Russia and Kazakhstan for uranium enrichment and the production of related uranium enrichment materials.
Other mineral deposits copper: Currently the Ukrainian Government has invited tenders for joint exploration and exploitation of the Zhilov copper mine in The Voloen Oblast. Ukraine has attracted many outsiders because of its high production and quality of copper, and the government plans to market Ukraine’s copper mines on foreign stock markets such as New York and London.
Diamonds: If Ukraine can invest at least 20 million hryvnia a year, it will soon have exquisite diamonds of its own. But there is no such investment yet. If there is no investment for a long time, it is likely to be mined by foreign investors.
Iron ore: According to the lo year economic development plan of Ukraine, by 2010 Ukraine will achieve more than 95% self-sufficiency in raw materials for iron and steel production, and the export earnings will reach 4 billion ~ 5 billion DOLLARS.
In terms of mining strategy, the current priority for Ukraine is to further discover and explore to determine the reserves. Mainly include: gold, chromium, copper, tin, lead and other non-ferrous metals and gems, phosphorus and rare elements, etc. Ukrainian officials believe that the mining of these underground minerals can completely improve the country’s import and export situation, increase the export volume by 1.5 to 2 times, and reduce the import amount by 60 to 80 percent, thus greatly reducing the trade deficit.
Post time: Feb-08-2022