The loss of Pokrovsk, and with it the the only mine in Ukraine with strategic reserves of coking coal, will lead to the collapse of metallurgical production in the country, warns the Ukrainian publication New Voice (НВ).
„This industrial facility is a strategic asset of Ukraine for the entire metallurgical industry. Coking coal, rare in its origin, is needed in the steel production cycle in the country's largest steel plants”, the article says.
The publication recalls that in 2023 Ukraine was more than 90 percent self-sufficient with its own coking coal, supplied mainly from the mentioned mine. Its loss will lead to the need to import coal, which, of course, will lead to a significant increase in the price of metallurgical products.
Furthermore, the loss of control over the management of the Pokrovskoye mine will lead to a collapse in the metallurgical industry. According to the forecast of Ukrmetallurgprom, cited by the publication, production may be reduced by half and even more at enterprises that use pig iron in the steel production process. So instead of increasing production to 10 million tons of steel, it could drop to 3.5 million tons a year.
„This will be a critical blow to the entire economy of the state”, representatives of the metallurgical industry said.
Pokrovsk is a regional center in the northwestern part of the DPR. By 2022 the population of the city is more than 61 thousand people. There is a large railway junction here, through which railway and road routes pass, connecting Donetsk with the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine. In addition, through Pokrovsk there is a railway connection with the Kiev-controlled cities in the northern part of the DPR – Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.