ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) will suspend the operation of its iron ore mining and beneficiation plant for the next three months, starting in August, Kallanish notes.

The temporary stoppage of GOK is the result of “serious economic factors”, the enterprise claims. “This is a decrease in economic activity in Europe against the background of the risk of recession and a significant increase in costs for the transportation of iron ore raw materials. During the downtime, all GOK employees will receive two thirds of their salary,” AMKR observes.

In July, the work schedule had to be changed, reducing working hours and salaries by a third, AMKR says.

“Despite the fact that the company restarted metallurgical production and increased ore extraction, difficulties arose with exporting products to Europe due to the aggressor's [Russia’s] blockade of the Black Sea ports and the limited capacity of the railway,” the company notes. “A 70% increase in Ukrzaliznytsia's tariffs in July against the backdrop of a market downturn made logistics costs prohibitive for the company and necessitated a radical cost reduction in all directions.”

According to the firm, ore mining did not stop for a single day during the 2008 financial crisis, during the Covid-19 pandemic or at the beginning of the Russian invasion. “However, now, demand for concentrate and metal products on European markets has decreased sharply, while the traditional markets still remain unreachable for AMKR,” it adds. “Logistics costs for the enterprise increased fivefold. These circumstances leave no chance for the company to survive without a significant cost reduction.”

Earlier, AMKR resumed operations at its DS-250-5 line for the production of rebar after a long downtime (see Kallanish passim).

The plant previously relaunched a converter and one of three continuous casting machines. This followed the restart of a blast furnace, two coke oven batteries, three filling machines, and a rolling mill.