About the company

The financial indicators for the past year were obtained, according to which, in two years time the Group will once again come into profit.

The pilot project involving the cooperation between VKG Kaevandused and Ida-Virumaa Vocational Centre was completed successfully, within the frames of which the young specialists from the Ojamaa mine completed a special course, coordinating their work with studies. As a result, 16 employees obtained a professional qualification of mine workers.

For the first time, VKG took part in the country-wide initiative 'Bring your child to work!'. Within the frames of this event, the pupils of 7th-9th grades had the opportunity to come with their parents to their workplaces and familiarize themselves with their working environment. This way young people get an overview of what is happening in the world of labour and by the end of the day they get a better understanding of why different jobs are important, and that every single worker and employee is significant.

At the beginning of April, the consulting company Sustinere, the developer of the concept of sustainability, published research that was conducted all over Estonia among 100 the most successful companies that provide employment to 80,000 people, i.e. 12.5% of the working population. Sustinere analyzed the annual reports of those companies in order to find out the topics described; what lies beneath the financial indicators; what principles the companies are managed by; how the companies treat people, the environment, and the society as a whole. 14 companies were differentiated in the results of the research, and one of them was VKG, whose reports contained a well-informed and integral description of social responsibility.

In May we got together with the most active employees of the Group in Kiikla in order to help our good neighbour Kiikla Children's Home in spring communal works that have already become a good tradition.

VKG is still one of the leading socially responsible companies, and it received the bronze medal for the eighth time.

After a three-year break, the Chemist´s Day was held once again, and one of the events within the Chemist´s Day was the Eastman Charity Run.

School Bell Day was held, which is one of our favourites. 58 boys and girls, whose parents work at the Group, went to school for the first time in their lives.

The Estonian Mining Museum in Kohtla-Nõmme hosted the people living in Ida-Virumaa on the Miner´s Day, which, according to tradition, takes place at the end of summer.

The employees of VKG and Eesti Energia, together with the guests of the Miner´s Day, took part in the 'Estonia is Dancing' initiative, proving by personal example that there are no limits for those who love dancing, and the industrial landscape can be even more suitable for dancing than any dancefloor.

The management board of VKG had a meeting with the president of the Republic of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid when she was working in Narva. A lot of topics were discussed at the meeting, starting from the developments in the sector in the long-term perspective and up to the opening up of the potential of the region and a more distant future.

The updated Personnel Policy of the Group was published, which is based on our mission and vision and supports our basic values.

At the Ojamaa mine, the first stage of the two-year project aimed at enhancing underground safety was completed, in the course of which the most state-of-the-art smoke detectors were installed in the most dangerous areas under the ground, which control the level of carbon monoxide in the air.

With the purpose of joining the provision of all of the logistic services in one unit thus increasing the transparency of this business sphere, from 1 October the logistic services have been offered by VKG Logistika instead of VKG Transport.

The Environmental Board and the town of Kohtla-Järve confirmed the action plan aimed at reducing the number of aromatic substances submitted by the Group, according to which we made an investment in the amount of 1.1 mln euros into the improvement of the quality of ambient air. Five measures will be implemented within the next two years, in the result of which we are planning to reduce emissions by 12%.

Our long-term and varied cooperation with the educational institutions in the area was acknowledged on the national level. Viru Keemia Grupp became the finalist in the 'Education friend' category. All in all, there were 19 diligent contributors to education in this category.

The traditional Environmental Day was held at Viru Keemia Grupp named 'The environmental effect - acceptable or unacceptable? within the frames of which the possibilities for the development of large-scale projects in contemporary Estonia were discussed within the context of the assessment of environmental effects.

The Group opened its doors to future specialists on the state-wide Labour Shadow Day.

The Competition Authority approved of the application of VKG Soojus to reduce the prices for heat for its own customers by 5%. In the network area, the new sales price for heat energy became 52.66 euros (plus VAT) per megawatt per hour.