Moscow. July 3. INTERFAX – The project to build a vanadium production facility in the Uzlovaya SEZ in the Tula Region has risen in price to $260 million, Denis Pavlyuchenkov, vice president of Evraz and head of the Vanadium division, told Interfax.
“If in dollars, then today our estimate is somewhere around $260 million. In fact, yes, a lot of factors influenced the growth of the investment estimate of the project. Firstly, the rise in the price of building materials, and secondly, the shortage of contractors. In fact, we were forced to revise contracts with many of our partners and there was an increase in prices. Of course, this is equipment. Despite the fact that about 90% of this equipment is domestically produced, nevertheless, the metal is still rising in price and the cost of equipment is growing. Probably, one of the biggest increases in price is all the automation,” Pavlyuchenkov said at the plant’s construction site, which was also visited by the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov.
Previously, investments in the project were estimated at approximately $228 million.
The launch of production is scheduled for the summer of 2025. Pavlyuchenkov called 2025 an “absolutely realistic” deadline.
The project is financed by Evraz’s own funds.
The company is currently carrying out construction and installation work on the site, including installing process equipment.
It was previously reported that the new enterprise will be able to process up to 100 thousand tons of raw materials per year, producing about 19 thousand physical tons of vanadium pentoxide.
This is already the company’s second production facility in the Tula region: Evraz Vanady Tula OJSC specializes in the production of vanadium pentoxide and ferrovanadium of various grades; it has been part of the Evraz group since December 2009.
Evraz is a large vertically integrated metallurgical and mining company.