Why is Ukraine negotiating minerals dealing with the United States?

Kiev and Washington are close to signing a US access deal to the deposits of mineral deposits of Ukraine, says Ukrainian minister.

Olga Stefanishna, Deputy Chairman of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said on x that “the negotiations were very constructive, with almost all key details being finalized.”

She added that “we are committed to finishing this quickly to continue with his signature.”

For the first time, Zelenski included the proposal for a mineral agreement in the so -called “Victory Plan”, which he presented to Trump last September.

The idea was to offer the then presidential candidate a tangible reason for the US to continue to support Ukraine.

On Monday former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson told BBC in Kyiv That such a deal was the “big prize” because it would secure “a commitment to the United States under Donald Trump to free, sovereign and secure Ukraine.”

Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world’s “critical raw materials” are in Ukraine. This includes about 19 million tonnes of proven graphite reserves, for which the Ukrainian State Agency for Geological Studies says that the nation is making the nation “one of the five most leading countries” for the delivery of the mineral.

Graphite is used to make batteries for electric vehicles.

Ukraine also has one third of all European lithium deposits, a key component in current batteries. Even before the Russian invasion, the global share of Ukraine in the production of titanium, light metal used in the construction of everything – from planes to power plants, was 7%.

In addition, Ukraine has significant deposits of rare earth metals. These are a group of 17 elements used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics and other products vital in the modern world.

However, some of the mineral deposits have been seized from Russia. According to Julia, Slovidenko, the Minister of Economy of Ukraine, resources worth $ 350 billion ($ 277 billion) remain in occupied territories today.

In 2022, SECDEV, a geopolitical risk consultant with headquarters in Canada, conducted an assessment that found that Russia had occupied 63% of Ukrainian coal mines and half of its manganese, cesius, tantalum and rare lands.

Dr. Robert Muga, director of Secdev, says that such minerals add a “strategic and economic dimension” to the prolonged aggression of Russia. Seeing them, according to him, Moscow refuses access to Ukraine, expands its own resource and affects global supply chains.

Critical Minerals “are the basis of the 21st century economy,” explains Dr. Muga. They are key to renewable energy, military applications and industrial infrastructure. They play a “growing strategic role in geopolitics and geo -economics”.

In addition, the United States is eager to deal with Ukraine’s mineral resources as it wants to reduce dependence on China, which controls 75% of the world’s rare deposits in the world, according to the Geological Investment Group.

In December, China banned the export of some rare earthly minerals to the United States, limiting the export of minerals to the United States the previous year.

Before Stephanishna’s claim that the deal is close, there seems to be several adhesive points.

Last Wednesday, Zelenski rejected the US’s demands for a 50% share of its rare land minerals – which Trump said it would reflect the amount of assistance the United States provided to Ukraine during its war with Russia.

“I can’t sell our country,” he said.

The provisions of a second project of the deal on Sunday seemed even more difficult than in the first document.

Instead of splitting 50/50 revenue, the revised project suggests that the US is demanding full control, Zelenski told journalists at a press conference on Sunday.

It is also claimed that Zeletsi wants every transaction to include security guarantees.

On Monday, former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson called an agreement to access the United States to the Minerals of Ukraine’s “Grand Prize”.

He rejected the proposals that the deal was “detachment” and said “what Ukrainians get from this is a commitment from the United States under Donald Trump for a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine.”

Some commentators have described the US proposal as “colonial”, but Kiev is interested in a joint study of his resources.

The development of these mineral resources is extremely difficult and expensive, says Irina Surun, CEO of the Geological Investment Group, an extraction consultative company based in Ukraine. She claims that if they manage to attract US investors to develop their natural resources, it will be extremely useful for the country’s economy.

“We’ll get technologies that our mining industry is missing so much,” explains Suprun. “We will receive capital. This means more jobs, tax payments. We will receive revenue from the development of mineral deposits.”