In Ukraine, 2,268 companies and 78 individuals have the right to use subsoil. Among them are owners from 51 countries, and some enterprises are part of powerful corporate groups. YouControl analysts investigated who owns Ukrainian subsoil, which companies control the extraction of strategically important resources, and what role foreign owners play in this.
Who has permits and how many?
There are 3,482 valid special permits for subsoil use issued in Ukraine. Most companies have only one permit, but there are also giants:
-
JSC “Ukrgazvydobuvannya” – 213 permits,
-
PJSC “Ukrnafta” – 89 permits.
Among private companies, the largest assets are concentrated in the hands of influential business groups:
-
Rinat Akhmetov's “SKM” – 39 permits,
-
Vadym Novinsky's Smart Holding – 17,
-
“Zahidnadraservice” – 13,
-
“Istvan” – 12,
-
“ATB” by Gennady Butkevych – 11.
Foreign capital in mining
351 companies with special permits are partially or fully owned by foreigners. The largest number of owners are from:
-
Cyprus – 137 companies,
-
Netherlands – 34,
-
Switzerland – 24,
-
Great Britain – 23,
-
Germany – 21,
-
USA – 14.
This indicates that a significant part of Ukraine's natural resources is controlled by international business.
Mining of critical minerals
16 out of 50 critical minerals in Ukraine are mined by 39 companies. Of these,:
-
10 are state-owned (in particular, they have licenses for germanium),
-
22 companies are part of large business groups that control strategic resources.
For example:
-
ATB Group – access to graphite, zinc, beryllium, titanium and zirconium,
-
Dmitry Firtash's “DF Group” – titanium, vanadium, scandium, zirconium,
-
"Ukrdoninvest" Vitaliy Kropacheva - germanium,
-
Andriy Brodsky’s “Velta” – titanium and zirconium ores,
-
Sergey Tabalov's Ukrlithium Mining is the only license for lithium,
-
“Spis Ukraine” from the Turkish group “Onur” – graphite and niobium,
-
“Marganetssky GOK” and “Pokrovsky GOK” (Kolomoysky-Pinchuk group) – manganese ores.
Is there a future for international partnerships?
Ukraine has received an updated version of the mineral agreement from the US, which is currently being reviewed by lawyers. At the same time, according to People's Deputy Danylo Hetmantsev, almost all commercially profitable deposits have already been "signed up" between large business groups, so there is practically nothing to offer new partners.
