There are encouraging signals: mining of Transcarpathian “white gold” can be resumed
24 March 2025 12:56
Roland Tseber, a deputy of the Transcarpathian Regional Council, visited the Tereblya salt mine, which should have covered all of Ukraine’s needs for technical and food salt by now, but this has not happened yet due to a corporate conflict. The MP wrote about this on his Facebook page, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Roland Tseber said that he and technologists went down to a depth of almost 400 meters to make sure that the mine was technically ready for operation and to refute rumors of its partial flooding.
“And here it is – the Transcarpathian “white gold” that can meet the needs of not only Ukraine but also European countries. All machinery, equipment, people – everything is ready to go. All that remains is to resolve the corporate conflict, which we are working on. And, so far, I have cautiously encouraging signals that it will be resolved. Because it would be a real crime to have millions of tons of strategically important raw materials underground and leave them untouched because of someone’s simple human ambitions,” the MP wrote on Facebook.
As for the corporate conflict itself, which prevents the resumption of salt production, Roland Tseber said, “this is our typical Ukrainian story, when several investors and co-owners simply quarreled with each other, did not share something, and, as a result, public interests took a back seat to personal financial interests.”
What is known about the parties to the conflict at the enterprise
Kation Invest started salt production at the Tereblyansky deposit in Zakarpattia region in 2023. It was later suspended. The company managed to produce about 6.1 thousand tons.
As reported by LIGA.net, Kation Invest LLC has been holding a special permit for salt mining at the Tereblya deposit since 2017. The company is owned by two investment funds – Echo (beneficiary – Valentyn Kondratiev) and Yukon (beneficiary – Oksana Omelianenko). Omelianenko is a business partner of businessman Yuriy Kosiuk, and she owns shares in such companies as MHP-Agro-Cargo LLC and MHP-Agro-S LLC.
What is known about the Tereblyanske field and its reserves
After preliminary geological surveys and testing of the Tereblya salt deposit in 2015, it was recorded that it has rock salt reserves of 15.5 million tons in the C1 category and 505.4 million tons of uncertain commercial value in the C2 category.
The depth of salt within the deposit is from 30 to 500 meters. This makes it possible to produce up to 300 thousand tons, including 80 thousand tons of Extra salt per year, after the full production capacity is reached, with the prospect of increasing production if processing facilities are completed.
Why such hopes are pinned on the Tereblya deposit
Ukraine has lost a salt deposit in Donetsk Oblast. The city of Soledar, home to Ukraine’s main salt mining company, Artemsil, is under temporary occupation. At the same time, the salt production facility itself was shut down in April 2022 due to the fighting in the region. In the pre-war year of 2021, the company produced 1.9 million tons of salt, which, among other things, was exported to 15 countries.
It was planned to resume salt production in Zakarpattia. However, due to a corporate conflict and the suspension of production at the Tereblya deposit, Ukraine is forced to continue importing salt from Egypt and other countries.
