OREANDA-NEWS  On 14 November was announced, that the Crimean soda plant (KSOD), the largest producer of soda ash in Ukraine, created a company - Bilohirski Izvestniaky - to produce limestone on the Pivnichno-Baksanske limestone deposit in Bilohirsk, Crimea.

Volodymyr Sivak, the commercial director of the plant, annoiunced this in an interview.

"The Bilohirski Izvestniaky Company has been created to develop the deposit," he said.

Sivak further said the Crimean soda plant had submitted an application form to the State Land Reserve Commission to get a license for the development of the deposit.

The Bilohirski Izvestniaky Company will submit a similar application in the near future, he said.

The Crimean soda plant said the reserves of the Pivnichno-Baksanske limestone deposit are enough to ensure supplies of raw materials for up to 100 years.

The Pivnichno-Baksanske deposit was opened in the late 1980's. The deposit was not developed because of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the economic crisis in the 1990's.

The Crimean soda plant covers 80% of the need of the Ukrainian domestic market and 2.5% of the world market of soda ash.

The plant produces soda ash of type A (heavy) and type B (light).

89.99% of the shares in the plant belong to Ostchem Germany GmbH [formerly RSJ Erste Beteiligungs, Hamburg, Germany], a subsidiary the OstChem Holding AG in Vienna.

90% in OstChem Holding AG belongs to the Group DF holding owned by businessman Dmytro Firtash.

The Crimean soda plant finished 2007 with a loss of UAH 1.59 million, when its net revenues rose by 18.83% or UAH 101 million to UAH 636.923 million compared with 2006.