News

Georgian News has been trying to contact the administration of Georgian Manganese since morning, but the administrative director of the company Teimuraz Khonelia and public relations representative Tamar Khurtsia are not answering phone calls and messages.

At the briefing held on June 20, Lasha Tutberidze, director of operational management of Georgian Manganese LLC, stated that “the company has been operating at a loss for years regarding mountaintop mining in Chiatura.” This statement by Tutberidze contradicted the annual report (audit report) published by Georgian Manganese on the financial reporting website - reportal.ge.

“We offered miners a 5% salary increase, which we were bound to do by the collective labor agreement signed with them. A 20% increase was firmly requested. In response to this, we explained that the company has been operating at a loss regarding mountaintop mining in Chiatura. This crisis has been going on in Chiatura for years. We are trying to find a way out of this crisis. The state proposed the creation of a commission. We are completely open to an independent auditor to be invited, to study the financial situation of the company, and whether it has the resources to increase worker salaries by another 15%. At this moment, a 15% increase adds up to an added annual expense of 10 million dollars.

We offered them [miners], let’s produce an audit report, come in accordance with future performance goals, and evaluate the current financial situation. Unfortunately, negotiations soon reached a dead end. Our goal is to renew works in Chiatura. The company is by no means happy with the stoppage of the factory, but we were forced to close down throughout the year due to the onset of a crisis. During this period, we still paid out salaries to our workers, despite the closure, which is no small expense and amounts to 6 million a year. Today, the projected value of our annual loss is 12 million dollars,” stated Tutberidze.

He also said that in order to overcome the crisis, specialists with experience in mountaintop mining production were invited from Ukraine: “They provided a report, and flaws were identified in local medium-ring management. Issues were raised which have been concerning the workers themselves.”

The operational management director of Georgian Manganese meant Andriy Barabakh when referring to Ukrainian specialists, who was appointed as the sole director of Magharoeli LLC a few days ago, on June 1. Magharoeli LLC was founded by Nodar Mikaberidze (a.k.a “Bashkira”) and Jemal Kharaishvili, who are equal-share partners. One of the rallies held by the striking miners in Chiatura was directed against Barabakh.

Up to 3500 miners employed in Georgian Manganese have been on strike for the 16th day, demanding salary increases and the provision of a safe work environment. For the moment, 15 of them are on a hunger strike, one has sewn his mouth shut, and the other has sewn his eyes shut.

Multiple online pages, likely linked with Georgian Manganese, are spreading false information as if the miner’s salaries reach 3000 GEL and beyond. Georgian News confirmed with over ten miners that the net monthly salary there are getting actually varies from 1700-1800 GEL.

Magharoeli LLC is a contractor company of Georgian Manganese. The contract signed between the two companies is not available to interested parties. Such documents should be submitted to the Mineral Resources Agency and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture; however, no such documentation can be obtained from these agencies.

According to various data, Georgian Manganese has over twenty such intermediary companies. The number of these companies increased drastically after 2017 when at the request of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, the court assigned a special state manager and deprived the group of Ukrainian billionaire and oligarch Igor Kalomoisky of the right to manage the company.

The Ministry justified its request by claiming that the activities of Georgian Manganese in Chiatura created a situation comparable to an ecological disaster, and the disaster could be averted only by appointing a special manager. Initially, Nikoloz Chikovani, who is close to Georgian Dream, was appointed as a special manager for a period of 3 years, then his term was extended for another three years, and on May 16, 2023, the court, again at the request of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, extended the special management regime in Georgian Manganese for another 2 years and appointed Besik Kirtadze as a new manager. For the seventh year, Georgian Manganese is completely under state management, and the already-dire situation in the Chiatura region has been exacerbated to the point of an environmental disaster. Prior to the introduction of a special management regime into the enterprise, there was no mention of a financial crisis in any document.

In a special report published by Georgian News on June 17, we told you that the appointment of Kirtadze strengthened the influence of a member of parliament from Georgian Dream, Aleksandre Dalakishvili - a former high-ranking official of the investigative service of the Ministry of Finance - over the company. Kirtadze also worked in the investigative service for many years. Nodar Mikaberidze (“Bashkira”) is a person entrusted by Dalakishvili, who, through monopolistic intermediary companies, not only manages open-pit mining in Chiatura and earns millions at the expense of environmental destruction, but also coordinates underground mining, which is evidenced by the appointment of the Ukrainian specialist invited by Georgian Manganese as the sole director of the company he fully owns.

Section 2 of Article 9 of the Law of Georgia on Accounting, Reporting and Financial Audit obliges commercial organizations to publish financial statements and, in the cases provided for by this law, the audit report immediately, but no later than October 1 of the following reporting period, on the official website of the same service.

Magharoeli LLC has only published the financial statement for 2020 when it should have submitted the 2021 report as well.

According to the 2020 report, the net profit of the newly founded Magharoeli LLC, in just 7 months, is 2,174,642 GEL. The company was registered on May 20, 2020.

Nodar Mikaberidze is a sole owner of Manganum Logistics. This is also one of the Georgian Manganese monopolistic intermediary companies. Mikaberidze buys the ore from them on the cheap – about 70-100 dollars per ton, washes it, and only then brings it to Georgian Manganese. Ultimately, Georgian Manganese processes the mineral in the Zestafoni ferroalloy plant and exports it. The intermediary company makes a handsome profit. Manganum Logistics’ annual profit looks like this:

- The year 2018 – 11 854 274 GEL

- The year 2019 – 11 775 288 GEL

- The year 2020 – 12 031 569 GEL

- The year 2021 – 12 890 414 GEL

Cumulative profit for 4 years – 48 551 545 GEL.

On June 20, Green Alternative and Center for Civil Activities submitted a written appeal to Tbilisi City Court Judge Nino Buachidze, requesting that she examine the conditions in Chiatura on the spot. The public organizations view the judge’s recent decision to extend the special management regime in Georgian Manganese for another 2 years as illegal.