The owner of ATB Butkevych seeks to seize Ukrainian uranium deposits

The owner of ATB Butkevych seeks to seize Ukrainian uranium deposits

Hennadiy Butkevych, a Ukrainian businessman and co-owner of the ATB-Market supermarket chain.

However, ATB is not the only interesting asset in Butkevych’s portfolio. The businessman also owns LLC "Atomic Energy Systems of Ukraine."

This company holds special permits for geological exploration with pilot industrial development of uranium-bearing ore deposits in the Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions.

Uranium has strategic importance for the country. It is used for the production of nuclear fuel and weapons. In times of war, it is especially important who controls such a resource. Therefore, Butkevych’s interest in uranium is not accidental.

However, so far, his company has had variable success in gaining access to the subsoil.

In 2018, AESU received permits for subsoil use. However, later the Supreme Court "essentially recognized the granting of these special permits as illegal."

And in 2021, Butkevych’s company also tried to obtain a special permit for the extraction of uranium-bearing ores from the Safronivka site in the Mykolaiv region. However, the State Geology and Subsoil Service denied Butkevych "due to the detection of false data in the submitted documents."

However, sources in the mining market indicate that Butkevych continues to be interested in uranium deposits and will not abandon efforts to gain access to them.