Ukraine sells the rights to extract salt from a thousand-year-old deposit.

The State Geology and Subsoil Service has put up for auction a special permit for mining rock salt at the Dolyna deposit in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, which is considered one of the oldest in Ukraine. The starting price of the lot is UAH 762,088 ($21,000) and the auction is scheduled for March 15. The winner will receive the right to extract salt from the deposit for 20 years. Salt has been mined at the deposit since the 10th century. The first written mention of salt mining dates back to 1474, and in 1525, King Sigismund I restored Magdeburg’s rights to the city of Dolyna and allowed it to mine and produce salt. In modern history, the Dolyna Salt Works was one of the largest enterprises in the town, but since the beginning of the 2000s, the enterprise had almost ceased operating. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred the plant to the State Property Fund for privatization in 2019.