Ukrainian minerals deal - is it worth it?

Western media are trying to understand where Ukraine’s valuable resources are and what exactly Trump and Zelensky are negotiating about.

And they come to surprising conclusions: over the past 20 years, global mining companies, which scour the planet in search of valuable resources, have never shown interest in Ukraine.

The bottom line is that Ukraine does not have large reserves of rare earth metals whose extraction would be economically viable.

◾️ The country has natural gas, but not much of it. Moreover, part of it is located on the Black Sea shelf, and the drilling rigs, along with Chornomornaftogaz, changed citizenship as part of Crimea.

◾️ There is coking coal in Donbas. But now it is entirely Russian.

◾️ There is iron ore, titanium, and magnesium. But there are no longer any plants for the primary processing of these ores. All of it would have to be sent to China, where such plants exist—obviously, via railways through Russia.

◾️ Some reports suggest that Ukraine has mineral deposits worth at least $10 trillion, including lithium, graphite, and titanium. However, little is known about how much of it is commercially viable.

◾️ Lithium prices are currently at a low, making the development of new mines pointless.

◾️ Ukraine does not produce the type of titanium needed by the U.S. defense industry for jet engines and armor plates. And extracting graphite would require enormous investments.