Ferrexpo to pay $11 million to bail out waste products ops chair

(Reuters) - Pellet producer Ferrexpo will pay a bail of 400 million hryvnia (about $11 million) to release the chair of its waste products operations, Viktor Lotous, who is detained by the Ukrainian police on the suspicion of illegal extraction of mineral resources.

The Ukraine-focused miner said that it continues to believe that the claims regarding the sale of waste products by the unit are without merit.

The company, embroiled in the Russia-Ukraine crisis and multiple legal actions, was first investigated in January by State Bureau of Investigations at its Ferrexpo Poltava Mining (FPM) operation, its largest mine.

"FPM's position has been and remains that the minerals in question are not a separate mineral resource, but are waste products ("rubble") left over from the crushing of iron ore during the technical process for the production of iron ore pellets," the company said in a statement.

The sale of rubble, not conducted since 2021 according to Ferrexpo, had also been under the radar and inspection of State Service for Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine for many years.

The company added "there remains a risk", the court may seek to impose further bail payments related to waste products investigation or legal challenges against Ferrexpo's senior management.

($1 = 36.3361 hryvnias)

(Reporting by Anchal Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)