The press in Ukraine | How can we relaunch the mining?

Washington and Kyiv signed, on April 30, a vast economic agreement providing for American businesses to Ukraine natural resources, in exchange for an investment fund for the reconstruction of the country ravaged by more than three years of war. In the field, skepticism is required, noted our employee, who visited one of the largest graphite mines in Europe.

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(Oblast of Kirovohrad) It is like the eye of a cyclops sunk in the cavities of a rocky and opaque earth, around which winds an old yellowish dust road. The Zavillya mine, a hundred kilometers south of Kyiv, is one of the largest graphite mines in Europe.

Electric wires, placed on small plastic stilts, swing at the whim of the wind. At the bottom, an artificial lake stretches with turquoise waters. Around, cranes and sand -colored excavators are stopped. The mine is silent.

Ihor Semko, factory director, black glasses screwed on the head, shows the extent of the crater. “It took more than 2000 men and a decade to build this career. »»

The site contains more than 19 million tonnes of this precious ore, used in particular in the industry for the manufacture of electric batteries. One of the many strategic minerals hidden by the Ukrainian subsoil, today at the heart of the mining agreement between Kyiv and Washington.

Le «hill» by Trump

Ihor Semko has other concerns. War, the shortage of energy, Chinese competition-whose graphite is of lower, but cheaper, he says-and the leak of the workforce have paralyzed its factory for several years.

But the volumes remain very far from those of pre-war period: “Before the large-scale invasion, we produced between 10,000 and 17,000 tonnes per year, against 40,000 in the USSR. Today, we could produce 150 tonnes per day, but contracts do not follow. »»

Far from the negotiation rooms, Mr. Semko remains skeptical about the ins and outs of an agreement between Washington and Kyiv. “I hope this agreement will be advantageous for Ukraine as for the United States. In 1994, we also signed an agreement – the Budapest memorandum, which guaranteed European and American security in exchange for the dismantling of the Ukrainian nuclear arsenal inherited from the USSR. Today, we can see what happened to it … “

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In a laboratory decorated with plants, Valentyna Duzhiy, 34, carefully cup a grayish powder in small molds. She is responsible for the quality control of the graphite extracted from the mine. On a table next to her, an old book discolored by time, surmounted by a sickle and a hammer, is placed carefully. You can read on the cover: Graphite: analysis method.

Valentyna also remains skeptical about the possibilities that an agreement would offer with the United States: “We hope to find investors to be able to earn a better life. Maybe even relaunch our activity. »»

But if the factory lacks decent contracts and wages, it is especially the lack of workforce that Zavallya suffers. War, mobilization and emigration have little by little – even before the war of large -scale invasion – emptied the region.

Alla Tkachuk, 56, has been working at the factory for 36 years. The hair covered with a small white sheet, she wears a metal blue work blouse, matching the color of the walls. Born in the village next door, she is witness to the gradual collapse of local industry.

“Many houses are abandoned,” she says. “Before the war, we had 250 employees in the mine,” deplores Ihor Semko. “Today, there are only 90 left.”

Alla explains that wages in the region are insufficient: “There are no jobs in the villages, and survival now depends on our vegetable gardens. »»

At 56, she takes care of her 80 -year -old mother alone and works according to the factory needs: “Sometimes I work two days, sometimes three, sometimes less. I am paid 58 hryvnias per hour [environ 1 $ CAN]. »

She doubts that any foreign investment can reverse the situation. The factory has changed owners so many times since the independence of Ukraine that it has lost the account.

She then murmurs that a concession could be acceptable, if it was temporary: “In order to support our national defense and our armed forces. »»

Ihor Semko increases his shoulders with fatalism. He knows that, even with foreign investments, there will not be enough arms to maintain the activity of the mine.

He also does not believe in a rapid expansion, even less in the creation of new mining projects, as the Trump administration seems to want: “A hundred kilometers from here, there is a lithium deposit. Today is just a steppe. But it will take more than a year to dig, build and start exploitation. It will take 5 to 10 years to develop it. And above all, we will have to wait until the end of the war. »»

The way back carries the stigma of war.

At the edge of a edge, the sun darts its last rays and is reflected in the golden bulb of a church built in the middle of a field. You can see a cemetery. A woman cleanses the tombstone of a soldier. Several other military tombs are looming behind the steppe. Flowers are placed there. The earth is still fresh.

As if we only returned to Zavallya to be buried there.