The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he will not “sell our state” after rejecting a proposal by Donald Trump to give access to the United States to the vast mineral reserves of Ukraine. Find out why they are important
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had declared that he would not “sold our state” after rejecting a proposal by Donald Trump to give the United States access to the vast mineral reserves of the country.
This Sunday (23/2), however, Zelensky retired in the tone and said “being ready to talk about minerals” with the Americans. “We are ready to share,” he said.
Ukraine has enormous deposits of so “rare earth” and strategic minerals, but many are in areas controlled by Russian troops.
Trump said these resources should be exchanged with the continuous support of the United States to Ukraine in the war against Russia.
“I said [à Ucrânia] that I want the equivalent of, type, $ 500 billion [cerca de R$ 2,9 trilhões] In rare lands, and essentially they agreed to do so, “Trump said to the Fox News Bret Baier journalist on February 10th.
Trump’s proposal highlighted the importance of these minerals for the United States, but for them to serve and what can they offer the country?
What are rare earth minerals?
“Rare Lands” is a collective term for 17 chemically similar elements widely used in technology and modern industry.
These elements are crucial for the production of smartphones, computers, medical equipment and various other products.
They include: sciio, y – iTrian, la – lantânio, ce – cerio, pr – praseodymium, nd – neodimium, prosecutor – promécio, sm – samarius, me – Europeio, gd – gadolininio, tb – terbian, dy – dy – Dy, Ho – Holmio, Er – Erbio, TM – Túlio, YB – Iérbio, Lu – Lutécio.
Minerals are called “rare” because it is very unusual to find them purely, although there are deposits of some of them in various parts of the world.
However, rare lands often occur together with radioactive elements such as Torio and Uranium and separating them requires the use of many toxic chemicals, making the extraction process sometimes difficult and expensive.
Which minerals does Ukraine have?
Ukraine has 21 of the 30 substances that the European Union defines as “essential gross materials”, which represent about 5% of the world reserves.
Many of the areas containing these elements are located in the south of the Ukrainian crystal clear shield (large area of rocks), in particular under the sea of Azov. Most of these territories are currently occupied by Russia.
However, there are still promising projects in the Bug River region, west of the country, as well as in the regions of Kiev, Vinitsia and Jitomir.
Experts say that although hundreds of promising geological places have been identified, only some of them can become practicable deposits if their development is considered economically feasible.
“The estimates released are, in fact, only estimates,” says Adam Webb, head of the raw materials for Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a specialized information agency on this market.
“It takes much more job to transform these mineral deposits into economically exploitable reserves”.
As for other important mineral resources from Ukraine, according to Forbes Ukraine, about 70% of them are found in the regions of Donetsk, Dnipro and Luhansk. Therefore, many are invaded and still occupied by Russia.
In addition to the rare minerals, Ukraine also has those that are known as “critical minerals” – or strategic – like lithium.
According to the Ukrainian government, the country has about 450,000 tons of lithium reserves. However, it has not yet been extracted, although there are plans for mining to start early.
Russia has occupied at least two lithium deposits: Shevchenkivske, in the Donetsk region, and the Kruta Balka mineral complex in the Berdyansk region.
Lithium mineral deposits in the Kirvohrad region remain under Ukrainian control.
What do you want with these minerals?
The interest of the United States in the control of rare and perhaps critical mineral production is largely due to competition with China, which currently dominates the global offer.
In recent decades, China has become a leader both in the mining sector and in rare mineral processing, representing 60% to 70% of world production and almost 90% of the processing capacity.
The addiction to the United States from China is probably worrying about the management of Trump, both in terms of national and economic security.
These materials are necessary for highly sophisticated technologies, from electric cars to military equipment.
Analysis: “A paradox”
By Navin Singh Khadka, reporter of the environment of the BBC World Service
At first glance, it looks like a paradox.
Trump has ordered the expansion of the production of fossil fuels, abandoning renewable energy policies.
But at the same time, he wants to guarantee critical minerals – which are essential for the transition to clean energy – where it is possible.
However, these minerals are also the fundamental blocks for electronic consumption products, military and navigation equipment and – even more important – artificial intelligence data center (AI).
Trump has announced a great initiative to expand artificial intelligence infrastructures in his country. This will require a huge supply of critical minerals: mainly copper, silicon, palladium and rare earth elements.
And the offer of these minerals has already begun to decrease, becoming one of the main causes of the slowing down of the global growth of clean energies.
Experts say that Chinese domination of critical minerals, including rare earth elements, is the main factor for Trump’s desire due to the geopolitical dispute between the United States and China.
After decades by improving processing and competence technologies, China currently controls 100% of the refined natural supplies of graffiti and dyspose, 70% of cobalt and almost 60% of all lithium and transformed manganese, according to the international agency for renewable energy.
Asian power also produces mainly elements of rare soils and maintains strong control over key metals all over the world, with the possession of great mines in Africa, Asia and South America.
“To combat China’s growing domain on the global supply chain,” said the United States’ representatives of representatives during the Biden administration, “it is essential that the United States guarantee their innovative supply of critical minerals e strategic “.
The Trump administration seems to see places such as Ukraine and Greenland as areas to use innovative methods to add to its supply chain.
Source: Terra
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