The Eastern Mining and Processing Plant (SkhidGZK) has a development plan including: “the procurement of mining equipment works and a gradual increase in uranium oxide concentrate production to 45 tonnes per month; construction of new mining levels; reconstruction of mine hoisting systems and ventilation systems; and design and construction of a new sulphuric acid production unit with an annual capacity of 85,000 tonnes”.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said the aim was to “transform” it “into a successful enterprise and an integral part of a vertically integrated holding that will control the entire technological cycle – from uranium mining and concentrate production to electricity generation”.
Background
According to World Nuclear Association’s information paper, uranium mining began in 1946 underground at Pervomayskoye and Zheltorechenskoye, and in 1951 the then Soviet Union government set up the Vostochny Gorno-Obogatitel’niy Kombinat (VostGOK), Eastern Mining and Processing Enterprise or Skhidniy Gorno-Zdobychuval’nyi Kombinat (SkhidGZK in Ukrainian) at Zheltiye Vody or Zhovti Vody (Ukr) in the Dnepropetrovsk oblast, close to the border of Kirovograd, to process the ore. In 1959 a second plant was built here. A total of about 130,000 tU has been produced to date.
Ukraine has recoverable resources of uranium of 185,400 tU according to the 2022 edition of the IAEA ‘Red Book’, 71,800 tU of these recoverable at under USD80/kgU. Reasonably assured resources are 120,600 tU, nearly all in metasomatite deposits in the Kirovograd block in the Dniprovski Basin of the Ukrainian Shield and requiring underground mining in the basement rock. Ore grade is 0.1-0.2%U. A few shallower sandstone deposits at lower grade are amenable to in-situ recovery (ISR) – also known as in-situ leaching (ISL) – and have potential byproduct elements. Reasonably assured resources for ISL are 3,700 tU at <USD80/kg.
In January 2022 Ukraine’s then energy minister announced the country’s aim to become self-sufficient in uranium by 2027. Production had been about 800 tonnes annually – around 30% of the country’s requirements. In 2023 an agreement with Canada covered the physical delivery of uranium oxide from Ukraine to Canada, providing for the entire quantity of uranium mined by Ukraine’s SkhidGZK to be supplied to Canada and for conversion and supply of natural uranium hexafluoride for enrichment. It was part of measures taken by Ukraine to diversify its fuel supply, end any use of Russian nuclear fuel, and its ultimate aim of creating a complete nuclear fuel cycle in the country.
