Words of gratitude

The team of LLC Kryvbas Ecotechnologies would like to express its sincere and heartfelt gratitude to the project manager, Dr. Viktoriia Tkachuk (https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktoriia-tkachuk/), for involving our organisation in this large-scale European consortium. It is thanks to her dedicated work, professionalism and support at every stage of the proposal preparation that LLC Kryvbas Ecotechnologies has had the opportunity to join the ROX-6G project and represent the interests of the Ukrainian mining industry at the European level.

LLC Kryvbas Ecotechnologies (KET) has joined an international consortium whose project has been selected for funding under the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, call HORIZON-CL4-2026-01. The project is ROX-6G: Robotics for Optimized underground eXploration and geological intelligence enabled by 6G – the development of robotic technologies for autonomous underground exploration using 6G connectivity and artificial intelligence.

About the project

The ROX-6G consortium brings together 13 organisations from 9 European countries, coordinated by Aalborg University (Denmark). The consortium also includes Kryvyi Rih National University (KNU), leading research institutions from Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Greece and Serbia, as well as innovative technology companies and industrial partners, including European Bauxites (METLEN).

The project’s goal is to create a swarm of autonomous robots (quadrupeds and wheeled platforms) capable of operating in underground workings that are inaccessible or hazardous to humans – flooded, unventilated or structurally unstable sections of mines. The robots will carry out geophysical, geochemical and mineralogical surveys, build 4D digital twins of deposits, and generate uncertainty-aware prospectivity maps using AI models.

The project supports the objectives of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and aims to accelerate domestic exploration of critical raw materials across Europe, including scandium, vanadium and yttrium.

The role of LLC Kryvbas Ecotechnologies

One of the three real-world pilot sites of the project (alongside Serbia and Greece) is the Ternivska Mine (PJSC Kryvbaszhelezorudkom) in the Kryvyi Rih Basin, where trials will be conducted at depths of up to 1,500 metres. LLC Kryvbas Ecotechnologies is contributing to:

• digitising and harmonising legacy geological, geochemical and geophysical data to populate the Geological Intelligence Repository;
• baseline assessment of pilot sites and definition of trial scenarios;
• dissemination of project results among junior mining companies;
• future uptake of project results in operational processes and exploration planning.

Significance for the region

Participation in the ROX-6G consortium gives LLC Kryvbas Ecotechnologies access to cutting-edge autonomous underground exploration technologies, strengthens cooperation with leading European research and industrial partners, and contributes to the EU’s strategy of open strategic autonomy in raw materials.

The project will run for 36 months. Further updates on its progress will be published on the company’s website and on the official ROX-6G project page.