MOSCOW — A move to take control of the world's largest manganese plant in the Ukraine by the Renova group was the trigger for this month's dismissal of the Ukrainian prime minister and her cabinet by President Victor Yushchenko, according to Yushchenko himself and industry sources.

Renova's bid to take control of the production of Ukrainian manganese – an alloy used to harden steel — parallels the Renova group's recent effort in South Africa to win a licence to explore for, mine and produce manganese ferroalloys in the Kalahari region and at Coega.

Yushchenko has said in Kiev that he had acted to replace Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko on September 8 because of Timoshenko's intervention to block the private sale of the Nikopol ferroalloys plant. "High officials started directing events in favor of corporate interests; then crises appeared," Yushchenko claimed. "It was the last straw. I decided firmly that the decision most of all should be the following: Everybody should get lost."

However, Timoshenko had already triggered the political collapse by blaming Yushchenko's circle, notably national security advisor Petro Poroshenko, of corruptly intervening to reverse a Ukrainian court ruling that had renationalized the Nikopol shareholding. This led to resignations of presidential officials, who added to the public accusations of corrupt dealings against Poroshenko and others close to Yushchenko.

Omitted from the public statements, but acknowledged by Ukrainian and Russian politicians, was the fact that one of the principal beneficiaries of Yushchenko's and Poroshenko's actions was a partnership between Russian metal magnates — Vekselberg, who owns Renova and also controls the SUAL aluminium and bauxite group; and Alexander Abramov, who controls the Evraz steel group. Together, they had sought to take control of Nikopol — the world's largest producer of manganese alloys for steel — by buying the disputed control shares from Victor Pinchuk. Pinchuk, ex-President Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law, had acquired the stake in a privatization Timoshenko and the Ukrainian courts have judged to have been unlawful. International court action against Pinchuk is also charging that, following his takeover of the plant, he diverted more than $700 million in revenues to offshore havens. In a fresh PR campaign, now appearing in English and Russian-language media, Pinchuk is now claiming that he is the defender of Russian interests in the Ukraine.

Abramov and Vekselberg have been lobbying for their Nikopol deal for months. In July, according to a source close to both, after meeting with YushchenkoAbramov believed he had secured the president's personal agreement to allow the Russian takeover of the Nikopol plant. But when the Ukrainian high commercial courtruled to disallow Pinchuk's acquisition of the shares, and Timoshenko endorsed the renationalization, thereby blocking the Russian plan, Abramov reportedly accused Yushchenko of being unreliable, possibly too weak politically in Kiev to honour his word. A source close Vekselberg told The Russia Journal: "if the [Ukrainian] courts say the shares beong to Pinchuk, then we offer to buy. If the shares go to the state, we are not ready to say if we will bid."

In August, the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) in Pretoria told The Russia Journal that a new-order manganese exploration and mining licence had been issued to an SA group backed by Renova. Jacinto Rocha, who supervises licensing at the DME, claimed: "Renova has not been issued a licence". But he confirmed that Renova is the "technical partner" of Chancellor House and Pitsa ya Setshaba, and according to Rocha, the latter two have been awarded a licence to areas in the Kalahari Manganese Field. Rocha added: "there is no relation between the DME and Renova." Public support for Renova's SA plan has come from Lulu Xingwana, deputy minister of minerals and energy, and Yury Trutnev, the Russian minister of natural resources and co-chairman of the SA-Russia intergovernment commission.

Hosted by Trutnev, the commission is due to meet for its annual session next month in Moscow.

Sandile Nogxina, the director-general of DME, told The Russia Journal on his last visit to Moscow in March: "it is not the policy of SA government officials to endorse particular companies."

Renova has announced that it is planning to develop a major new manganese mine in the Kalahari area, where about 80% of the world's commercially mineable manganese ores are located. Samancor and Assmang, which is jointly controlled by African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Assore Ltd., are already actively mining in the area. Industry sources in Moscow say the Nikopol plant is currently dependent on feedstock for its ferroalloy production from Guinea, in western Africa. Were Renova to take over Nikopol, the group may be intending to supply the Ukrainian plant with feedstock from its SA mine.