Page 40 - UKRRptJun21

SBA is dead now in my mind, as it expires at year end.”
The European Investment Bank is providing an additional €7mn grant to top up last year’s €340mn program to rebuild infrastructure in eastern Ukraine. Designed to benefit almost 14mn people, the program focuses on hospitals, schools, sewage systems and transport. The new money was announced yesterday by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development.
6.1.4 Budget dynamics - privatization
Australia’s Volt Resources Limited is paying $7.6mn to buy control of Ukraine’s Zavalivsky Graphite LLC, one of the 10 largest producers of natural graphite in the world. Volt says it is buying 70% of the company to become a producer of graphite for li-ion batteries. With a production capacity of 30,000 tons a year, Zavalivsky Graphite has been mining the deposit in Kirovohrad since 1934.
Ukrzaliznytsia has identified 182 non-core assets to sell as the state railroad looks for ways to turn last year’s loss into a profit this year of around $130mn. To test waters on market interest and pricing, 11 properties will be sold through Prozorro.Sales: six stores, four ‘non-residential’ buildings, and one sports club, UZ’s press office said Friday. "Historically, Ukrzaliznytsia has a lot of premises and buildings that are no longer used by the company,” said Ivan Yuryk, chairman of company that employs 250,000 Ukrainians. “Instead, we are forced to spend money on their maintenance. Thus, instead of profits, they generate extra costs.”
Planning a series of license auctions for this year, Ukraine has prepared an Investment Atlas with approximately 30 critical mineral assets, including titanium, lithium, nickel, cobalt, chrome, tantalum, niobium, beryllium, zirconium, scandium, molybdenum, gold and graphite, Opimakh said to S&P. Five gold blocks are to auctioned. “Ukraine has the potential to become a significant gold producer,” he said. For most metals, exploration licenses are for five years, and development licenses are for 20. Noting “Ukraine has some of Europe's biggest lithium reserves, but doesn't currently produce the light metal,” S&P stresses Ukraine’s proximity to the EU and the free trade pact. Referring to a presentation by Roman Opimakh, head of Ukraine's State Geological Service, S&P reports: “Three projects are now set to being auctioned: Kruta Balka with lithium oxide content of 0.86%; Dobra with lithium oxide content of 1.38%; and Shevchenkivske, with lithium oxide content of 1.1%.”
Of Ukraine’s 33 state-owned coal mines, six money losing mines will be transferred to Centrenergo. Others will be privatized individually, said Yaroslav Demchenkov, the Deputy Energy Minister on Dom TV last week. "These are the ones that have promising coal beds, and enough coal that can be mined there for several more decades,” he said. “We will try to find an investor for them.”
Ukrposhta’s iconic Stalin-era headquarters on Kyiv’s Independence Square could find a second life as a casino, Smelyansky told the Kyiv Post. He said: “We are converting old infrastructure to a new, modern use. You cannot constantly live in the past.
40 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com