Ukraine’s sole miner of titanium dioxide (TiO
2) feedstock has blamed the “personal hostility” of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko for the uncertainty over mining licenses it is now facing.
The Ostchem Group, owner of miner Crimea Titan, claims that Timoshenko’s reasons for rescinding the right to mine the Irshansky and Volnogorsky deposits came from personal issues with shareholders of the company.
Last year, Timoshenko effectively shut the ilmenite, rutile, and zircon operations overnight by revoking the mining licence which sparked panic buying from African and Australian sources.
Oleksiy Fedorov of Ostchem told IM: “Discussions concerning legitimacy of the rentÉ had neither economical nor legal basis, but had political character thatÊwas caused by the personal hostility of the former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko to shareholders of the Ostchem Group.”
Mining restarted once it was clarified by an independent body that...