OREANDA-NEWS. May 14, 2012. A new sulphuric acid workshop was opened at Crimea Titan PJSC on the 27th of April.

Victor Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine, Anatolii Mohyliov, the Head of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and Dmytro Firtash, the Head of the Board of Directors of Group DF cut the red ribbon at the entrance to the new manufacturing facility. The ceremony was also attended by representatives of the company administration - Alexander Nechaev, the head of the Supervisory Board, Alexander Shitmanyuk, Chairman of the Board, Valentin Demidov, the Mayor of Armyansk, and company workers.

"The activities of the plant is a good example of effective investments in the development of chemical industry. It is very important to create favorable conditions for business in Ukraine. And this event is momentous for the economy of our country ", said Viktor Yanukovych.

The opening of the new production workshop is of national importance. "With the development of titanium dioxide production in the Crimea Ukraine will significantly enhance its position within the global market of titanium products", said Dmytro Firtash, the Head of the Board of Directors of Group DF and the shareholder of Crimea Titan PJSC. According to him, Ukraine's share in the international market of titanium dioxide is to increase from the current 3% to 6-8%. Commissioning of the new sulfuric acid production complex will increase Crimea Titan’s production of titanium dioxide from the current 108,000 tonnes per year to 120,000 tons per year. It will also allow starting another titanium dioxide production with the capacity of 120,000 tons per year. Thus, the capacity of Crimea Titan will be increased by more than two times - up to 240,000 tons per year.

"There are no such kind of plants in Eastern Europe”, said Dmytro Firtash. “I think we made a record by building a plant in a very short period of time. The similar plant was built in Europe (Antwerp, Belgium), and you can compare the terms of construction. We think that in 3-4 years we will build one more plant and thus give a fairly good amount of work for the town, give work to people and it will result in the increase of budget revenue", Dmytro Firtash said in the interview after the workshop opening ceremony.

Answering reporters' questions Alexander Nechayev, the head of Crimea titan PJSC Supervisory Board said that a new sulfuric acid complex is the largest investment on the Crimean peninsula since Ukraine acquired its independence. The new complex corresponds to the highest environmental standards. "The new sulfuric acid technology makes maximum use of all resources and does not pollute the environment. In this way we can avoid the large volume of emissions ", said Alexander Nechayev.

According to Alexander Shitmanyuk, Chairman of Crimea Titan PJSC Board, Crimea TITAN can increase the production of the main product - titanium dioxide - up to 120 tons per year due to the increased volume of sulfuric acid produced by the company.

Reference: the construction of the sulfuric acid workshop was started on September 1, 2008. On April 25, 2012 the State Inspectorate of Architecture and Construction Control in the Crimea issued industrial operability certificate; on April 26 the process of workshop start-up was initiated in accordance with the schedule provided by the German specialists, and on April 27 the new sulfuric acid workshop was opened.