The Crimean soda plant, the largest producer of soda ash in the Ukraine, is planning to start using its own limestone for soda ash production thanks to the development of the Pivnichno-Baksanske limes…
The Crimean soda plant, the largest producer of soda ash in the Ukraine, is planning to start using its own limestone for soda ash production thanks to the development of the Pivnichno-Baksanske limestone deposit in Bilohirsk, Crimea. The plant has already started registering the authorisation documents to develop the deposit. The relaunching of the project is connected to the fact that reserves at the plant“s main supplier, the Balaklava Ore Mining Board, are almost exhausted and cannot meet the needs of the plant. The prospective resources of the Pivnichno-Baksanske deposit will allow the Crimea soda plant to meet its limestone needs for at least the next hundred years. “Development of the Pivnichno-Baksanske deposit guarantees stable and dynamic work for the plant, will help the economy of the Bilohirsk district of Crimea, considerably increase revenues for the local and republican budgets, and allow for the creation of 150 to 400 new jobs”, board chairman Volodymyr Syvak was quoted as saying. He stressed that the plant has the necessary technologies, production infrastructure and sufficient financial resources to allow it to achieve a positive result from the realization of the project. The Pivnichno-Baksanske deposit was opened in the late 1980s. It has been proved during geological and exploration works that the limestone found in the deposit contains high concentration of calcium oxide with a slight infusion of other substances, making it suitable for producing best quality soda ash. The Pivnichno-Baksanske deposit has never been developed due to the dissolution of the USSR and the crisis of the 1990s. The Crimean soda plant covers 80% of domestic soda ash demand and 2.5% of the world market.