- Title: Ukraine's largest lithium deposit explored as US, Ukraine sign mineral deal
- Date: 28th February 2025
- Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY VIA ZOOM (FEBRUARY 27, 2025) REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (UKRAINIAN) UKRLITHIUMMINING CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER, DENYS ALYOSHIN, SAYING: "We need a year and a half to produce final feasibility study. After that, providing we have USD 350 million and after another two and a half, three years during which we will build the mine and the enrichment plant we can reach t
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: Kyiv Moscow Putin Trump USA Washington Zelenskiy investors lithium deposits lithium mine minerals deal war in Ukraine
- Location: KOPANKY, KIROVOHRAD REGION, KYIV, UKRAINE/ BUDAPEST, HUNGARY/INTERNET
- City: KOPANKY, KIROVOHRAD REGION, KYIV, UKRAINE/ BUDAPEST, HUNGARY/INTERNET
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00A463026022025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On snow-covered fields in central Ukraine, where some of the country's biggest proven lithium deposits are located, a small team of ecological consultants drop sensors through holes in the earth to measure water levels.
The survey, contracted by licence holder UkrLithiumMining, pre-dates any mining operations by years, and underlines how much work is still to be done before a much-vaunted minerals deal between Ukraine and the United States generates significant revenue for either side.
President Donald Trump sees the deal, the details of which have yet to be thrashed out, as America's way of earning back some of the money it has given to Ukraine in the form of financial aid and weaponry to help it fight against Russia, which invaded Ukraine.
The survey was carried out on the Polokhivske lithium deposit.
For Denys Alyoshin, UkrLithiumMining's chief strategy officer, the agreement is a step in the right direction, but he stressed that without some form of security guarantee to deter Russian aggression, developing the deposit around 10 km from the village of Kopanky would be tough.
The United States has offered Kyiv no such guarantee, raising doubts over the feasibility of jointly developing deposits of rare resources used in high-tech devices and batteries given the risk posed by the full-scale war.
But even if the fighting were to cease, the company would need to raise $350 million and at least four years to carry out a feasibility study and build the mine and enrichment plant, Alyoshin told Reuters.
"It means we will be able to reach steady stage production ... it can be 2029."
The next U.S. presidential elections are due to take place in 2028.
Lithium industry sources say Alyoshin's timeline is optimistic. Exploration periods are typically four years, a feasibility study would take another year before the construction of a processing plant can even start.
The Polokhivske deposit is deep and may require up to $800 million just to construct the mine and concentrator, said industry sources that another $1 billion investment would likely be needed to produce the lithium chemicals in batteries.
Ukraine, invaded by Russia in 2022, has reserves of lithium and rare earths, but turning its deposits into operating mines and constructing processing facilities is a mammoth undertaking, analysts and mining industry experts say.
Any deal by Trump to access Ukraine's critical minerals, including electric vehicle battery materials lithium and rare earth elements, won't get the United States anywhere near to challenging China's dominance while he is in power.
China is the world's third largest lithium producer after Australia and Chile and the world's top producer of rare earth elements which include neodymium used to make strong, light, powerful permanent magnets used in defense equipment such as military weapons systems.
Ukraine does not produce any rare earth metals, but according to Ukraine's Institute of Geology, the country possesses rare earths such as lanthanum, cerium, neodymium and yttrium. Detailed data about reserves is classified.
Ukraine has deposits of 22 of the 50 minerals classified as critical by the U.S. government and has significant deposits of lithium, graphite, titanium, uranium used to generate nuclear power, alongside rare earth elements, according to industry specialists.
A deal in which the U.S. would receive mined minerals in return for security guarantees, protection from future Russian attacks and aid would be unusual in the mining industry which would use royalty deals to get financing in return for a percentage of revenues from sales once production begins.
(Production: Vlad Smilianets, Felix Hoske, Anna Dabrowska) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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