SOKA eyes Ukraine kaolin plant

SOKA plans to build a 75,000 tpa kaolin plant in Ukraine to refine the raw material from its Plast deposit into ceramic grade products, the France-based group said.
The company completed a drilling programme in 2009 and is now preparing engineering work and looking at financing options for the project.
The deposit is located at near Pervomaisk in the southern province of Mykolaiv, where SOKA has close access to the Black Sea for exports to Russia, Turkey and Eastern Europe.
"The planned capacity is 75,000 tpa in steps of 25,000 tpa. With a structure like ours we are able to launch a new step without long procedures," SOKA managing director, Philippe Delaporte said.
"We will go steadily, deciding on a new step when the existing step is saturated," he added.
SOKA has been selling the unrefined material to brick, tile and white cement makers, in Ukraine and other markets, since it acquired the mine through its acquisition of Ukrainian Plast.
"We would like to keep our customers for unrefined kaolin and try to get others with these new grades in sanitaryware, glaze, tableware in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union (FSU)," said Delaporte.
SOKA's end markets in the Ukraine have started to improve since the end of a flat 2009, when the building industry recorded zero growth, he added.
Speaking about demand in the wider kaolin market, Delaporte said Western Europe has seen no positive change with some ceramics plants closing down, but Eastern Europe and the FSU were in a "good situation with a good level of activity".
He added that demand North Africa and Turkey is in a good situation, while the Asian market is still "going strong". "Generally the Kaolin market looks to be a little better this year," said Delaporte.
SOKA has not announced a prospective date to start the construction of the processing plant, or the level of capital expenditure expected.
"We are on the financing research state and some banks, like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank, are interested in the project,"said the MD.
In addition to the Ukraine deposit, SOKA operates three quarries in Brittany, north-west France: two at Quessoy near Saint-Brieuc and one at Collin e.
The Quessoy mine produces a reported 200,000 tpa of crude kaolin and includes separation and beneficiation plants.