Turkish Onur Group plans to invest at least $50 million in the extraction of natural graphite in Ukraine. This graphite can be used to produce car batteries. The return on investment will be 5-10 years.
Emre Karaahmetoglu, chief coordinator of Onur Group Ukraine, confirmed that the Ukrainian company Spice Ukraine LLC, which is part of the Onur Group, has finally received a special permit from the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine for the extraction of graphite ore at the Burtynsky deposit in the Khmelnytsky region.
The development of the field will start in 7-12 months, depending on when land issues are resolved, an environmental impact assessment is carried out and a commercial development project is agreed.
The announced $50 million of investments so far concerns only the first phase of the field development. The development permit cost the company UAH 44.8 million, which is twice the starting price.
The total investment in the development of such fields can range from $60-280 million.
According to Gosgeonedra, the maximum annual production at the Burtinskoye deposit can reach 55,900 tons of graphite concentrate. According to the Argus agency, the cost of graphite at the end of 2022 is $740 per ton. Thus, the annual income of Onur Group can reach $41.4 million.
The Burtynskoye deposit may become the largest in Ukraine in terms of graphite deposits. Only at its Gorodnyavsky site, the balance reserves of graphite ores of almost 130 million tons with an average graphite carbon content of 5.14% were approved. These reserves will last for 130 years, according to the State Geo- subsoil.
Onur Group is one of the three largest contractors of Volodymyr Zelensky's "Big Construction" initiative. In 2021, the company completed 10.2% of all road contracts worth UAH 26.7 billion.
