Ukraine to put Kryvy Rih Mining stake on sale
Ukraine has decided on a date to tender the unfinished Kryvy Rih Mining and Dressing Mill of Oxidized Ores (KRMDM). Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko, asked the State Property Fund to prepare the tender for 56.4 percent sale of the company by March 1. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, construction of KRMDM, which began in 1985, passed to Ukraine with a 56.4 percent stake. Romania owns 28 percent and the rest belongs to Slovakia. Completing and launching the first phase of the plant will cost an estimated $200 million. The budgeted construction cost for KRMDM was $2.4 billion, of which $1.65 billion has been spent. The complex will have initial capacity to produce 6.6 million metric tons of pellets, which will later increase to 10 million metric tons. Mittal Steel, Ukraine's Inhulets MDM and Poltava MDM iron ore producers, Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), and China Steel are believed to be interested in the KRMDM tender.