In the midst of the war with Russia and the clay crisis, the Ukrainian mining company Vesco is going to invest seven million euros in the Teruel town of Andorra and create a hundred jobs.
The second largest clay producer in the world begins its operations in Teruel with the start-up of a laboratory and the implementation of the mining, drilling and extraction divisions.
Vesco has signed an option agreement for the purchase of 21 clay exploitation concessions in the province of Teruel, in two of which it is already working in the towns of Berge and Estercuel. The start of mining operations is scheduled to begin this year.
In the mining branch, Vesco has a long experience and plans to buy and transfer from Ukraine at least two excavation complexes and support machines.
It also plans to start up its own drilling division that will provide testing services for production and research, as well as other companies in the province of Teruel.
The Vice President of the Government of Aragon and Minister of Industry, Competitiveness and Business Development, Arturo Aliaga, during his visit to the facilities, highlighted the significance of a world-leading clay company settling in the town of Andorra in Teruel.
He highlighted “the enormous value of this resource that we have in the province. We welcome the second largest clay manufacturing company in the world that is going to work in Teruel, it is going to create 50 direct jobs and another 50 indirect jobs, it will open special lines of drilling, will generate a mining activity and will create a reference laboratory. We want them to grow from Aragon to export Aragonese clays to the whole world”.
At this time, the company is carrying out the necessary works in Andorra to start up its own laboratory, which will be operational in the coming weeks and will have ten employees to carry out chemical and ceramic analyses.
In about four months they will have the drilling area ready and next year the complete production line will be in operation.
On the other hand, to facilitate the transport of clay from the province of Teruel to Castellón, Vesco will launch its own transport division, as well as another drilling division that will also carry out transport services for its concessions and provide services to third parties.
The arrival of this Ukrainian company in Aragon is due to its interest in promoting its activity in Spain, a country that is its largest consumer of clay to manufacture ceramic tiles.
According to the latest data published by the company, sales in Spain account for more than 30% of the company’s total, which markets around 86% of its clay in some 25 countries.
The company is the second in the world ranking of the white plastic clay market with a production of 3.5 million tons of clay per year that it extracts from 17 quarries.
It generates more than 200 million euros of annual income and exports to more than twenty countries. In addition, it is the largest holder of high-quality clay reserves in the world due to its unique mineralogical properties and high plasticity, with more than 400 million tons.
These clays are consumed by the main producers of porcelain stoneware, a sector that has experienced significant growth in recent years due to its qualities, since porcelain tiles have low water absorption and are denser and more durable.
They are used in the production of tiles, sanitary ware, bricks, electrical insulators, tableware, machine building, and metallurgy.
Vesco has established its clay trade in Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and India and will soon expand to Turkey. Currently, they focus their business development activity in Spain, Poland and Turkey. They have a staff of 2,200 professionals around the world.
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