{"id":618432,"date":"2026-09-23T20:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/2026\/09\/618432\/almost-50-million-tons-of-red-mud-near-mykolaiv-what-will-happen-to-mgz-s-waste-and-can-it-really-be-recycled\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T20:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:23:03","slug":"almost-50-million-tons-of-red-mud-near-mykolaiv-what-will-happen-to-mgz-s-waste-and-can-it-really-be-recycled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/en\/2026\/09\/618432\/almost-50-million-tons-of-red-mud-near-mykolaiv-what-will-happen-to-mgz-s-waste-and-can-it-really-be-recycled\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost 50 million tons of red mud near Mykolaiv: what will happen to MGZ's waste and can it really be recycled?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 50 million tons<\/strong> of red mud have accumulated in two tailings ponds of the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant<\/strong> in the Halytsynivska community<\/strong>. These industrial wastes contain alkali and various metals, including rare-earth and precious elements. The plant itself has not operated since the start of the full-scale war, but the mud has not disappeared \u2014 it needs to be stored safely, its dusting contained, and at the same time options for processing or reuse sought.<\/p>\n

Reporters from Suspilne<\/a> looked into possible ways to manage the red mud, its potential value and environmental risks.<\/p>\n

According to the acting head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration (OVA)<\/strong>, Heorhii Reshetilov<\/strong>, work on possible uses of the red mud began to be developed at the international level while Vitalii Kim<\/strong> was in charge.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs everyone saw in the information space, Vitalii Kim<\/strong>, while in South Korea, raised these issues; they were being worked on, there are certain developments, and further work is underway regarding the possibility of using it in road construction,\u201d says Heorhii Reshetilov<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The OVA regards the red mud as secondary raw material that can be researched for further use in construction or metallurgy. At the same time, the issue requires technological and economic justification.<\/p>\n

The enterprise has not been operational since the start of the full-scale war and has no funds for disposal or processing of the mud, says economist Oleksii Miroshnychenko<\/strong>. After the plant was nationalized in 2023<\/strong>, he says, the problem of the tailings ponds became an issue that concerns not just the enterprise but the region and society as a whole.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf this could be a potential environmental catastrophe like the one a decade and a half ago in Hungary, when later millions, and now, by our estimates, billions of hryvnias will be spent on eliminating an environmental disaster. In other words, we are now investing funds so as not to spend more in the event of a catastrophe,\u201d says Oleksii Miroshnychenko.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In his view, processing the mud could not only reduce environmental risks but also create jobs and provide budget revenues.<\/p>\n

Scientists have been working on the problem of red mud and its dusting for years. The head of the Department of Ecology at the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, Doctor of Biological Sciences Liudmyla Hryhorieva<\/strong>, says that the university’s Center for Applied Environmental Research worked with the MAP from 2004\u20132016<\/strong> on the problem of dust spread. As a result, part of the first tailings pond was reclaimed<\/strong> \u2014 it was covered with artificial soil and vegetation was planted. Researchers studied how to form a humus layer that could become an organic medium for plants, and selected species capable of withstanding local temperature and wind conditions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe thought about and evaluated how to create that humus layer to form an organic bed for plants \u2014 we found that. In addition, we selected plants: those native to our area, suitable for our temperature regimes and wind conditions,\u201d says Liudmyla Hryhorieva.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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At the same time, the scientist notes that, in addition to toxic substances whose spread reclamation is meant to minimize, the mud also contains valuable elements, including precious metals and even gold.<\/p>\n

Director of the Institute of Nanotechnologies and Organic Products Tymur Levda<\/strong> says that together with colleagues he studied various ways to use the red mud, including as a construction material<\/strong>. According to the research results, the most economically feasible use, he says, proved to be using the mud in agriculture after neutralizing harmful substances, primarily the alkali.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is the production of ameliorants. And then that ameliorant, when we already researched it. And we obtained good indicators of yield increase, against the background of reduced soil salinity. So it had several uses: both an ameliorant and a fertilizer. In the composition in which we applied it, it renewed the so\u2011called biota \u2014 we tested it on biological microorganisms,\u201d says Tymur Levda<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n