Ukraine and US partner in critical minerals sector

The views expressed here are solely of the author: Roman Opimakh, Director General of Ukrainian Geological Survey Recently, President Donald Trump initiated access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in return for US military support in a war with Russia. The attraction of strategic investors in the development of critical minerals was also a measure of the Victory Plan, presented by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Below, I will try to describe which minerals could be a part of a mutually beneficial agreement between Ukraine and the US.The industry of critical raw materials for battery and modern technology manufacturing is one of the fast-growing sectors, where Ukraine can integrate with international and regional value chains, diversifying and de-risking global demand.Ukraine holds 23 of the 50 strategic materials identified by the US as critical, and 26 out of the 34 recognized by the EU as critically important. Particularly, Ukraine holds very competitive positions in five key ones: titanium, graphite, lithium, beryllium, and REEs.Today, this group of minerals in Ukraine is partially developed and almost not used for the production of metal alloys and finished goods. Currently, there are 30 licenses issued for their development.Moreover, the Government holds more than 30 unlicensed deposits and about 400 promising occurrences, managing several important industrial assets, which are still capable of fabricating metal titanium, aluminum, silicon, germanium, and gallium.Titanium and Beryllium – for aerospace and defenseTitanium is a critical raw material for industries such as aerospace, defense, chemical, and pigment fabrication.Ukraine holds the largest titanium reserves in Europe, ranking in the top-5 for titanium rutile reserves, capable of meeting US and EU metallic titanium demand for over 25 years.The global titanium supply chain is heavily reliant on China and Russia, both controlling a significant portion of production and processing (especially in the metal value chain).Should Russia impose an export ban on metallic titanium, it would significantly impact Boeing, Airbus, and the aerospace and defense sectors, which rely on this metal for high-strength, corrosion-resistant applications.Ukraine has extensive experience in titanium mining and processing in slag and sponge, but it has no melting capacity. Ukraine holds several deposits with no operators, one of them is the largest hard-rock ilmenite globally – Stremyhorodske, similar to giants such as Norwegian Tellnes and Canadian Lac Tio.Therefore, Ukraine proposes foreign investors to partner with and invest in its domestic titanium industry, encouraging the construction of new melting fabrication, as well as the production of non-metallic products (white pigment) based on existing industrial sites in the Zhytomyr and Dnipropetrovsk regions.Only a few countries in the world are engaged in mining and processing of beryllium ores. There is one explored Perzhansk beryllium deposit in Ukraine, a license for the development of which was granted in 2019 to a private Ukrainian investor (www.bgv.com.ua/en/bgv-beryllium/). Beryllium oxide reserves of this deposit amount to 13.9 Kt, capable of satisfying over 20 years of global production.Lithium and graphite – for energy storageDemand for batteries is expected to multiply in the next decade, but 90% of the battery supply chain, particularly lithium processing, is controlled by China.Lithium reserves in Ukraine are insignificant on a global scale, while at the same time, they make up roughly a third of the proven deposits of European countries, which positions it as a potentially important supplier of carbonate or hydroxide to the European battery industry.Currently, lithium is not mined in Ukraine. Three explored deposits are known, one of them is licensed (www.ukrlithium.com), and one is a promising occurrence. Unfortunately, two of four lithium sites are currently in the temporarily occupied territory. The necessary investments at the first stage of mining and production of carbonate or hydroxide are from $150 to 350 million for one project.Ukraine can supply battery factories with natural graphite concentrate, which can later be refined into active anode material for battery cells.There are six known deposits, one of which is operated by Australian public company Volt Resources, whose products are supplied to many countries around the world, including the USA, and licenses were issued for three more deposits in 2019 and 2021 (Ukrainian BGV Group, Turkish Onur Group).The total amount of necessary investments for the modernization and construction of fabrication facilities for the production of high-purity spherical graphite at the two deposits is estimated at $650 million.Rare, rare earth metals – valuable components for semiconductorsOpportunity for the extraction of tantalum and niobium and REEs are largely related to the development of the Novopoltava phosphate deposit and the Azov deposit of rare earth metals (both are temporarily outside the control of Ukraine) and potentially several other occurrences, together with the establishment of technologies for their extraction from ilmenite ores, especially accumulated in wastes of the production of seven operating mining and beneficiation enterprises.Ukraine has significant reserves of germanium, which is a co-product of several minerals and is found in gas and hard coal, brown coal, as well as in ash, which is formed as a result of burning coal for the generation of electricity. In addition, germanium is dispersed in lead-zinc production waste, metallurgical slags, and carbonaceous clays.In Soviet time and at the beginning of the 2000s, coking coal served as a source of germanium in Ukraine, its extraction was carried out at the facilities of coke chemical plants, and processing took place at the hydrometallurgical facilities of the Zaporizhzhya Titanium Magnesium Plant, fabricating purified germanium tetrachloride and optical monocrystalline germanium lenses.It is promising to restore gallium production at the Mykolaiv alumina plant as a processing of aluminum bauxite from Visokopil deposit in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as to establish the fabrication of crystalline silicon from high-quality quartz sands, in particular, of the Glukhiv quarry in the Sumy region.During the times of the USSR, 80% of the production capacity of silicon was concentrated in Ukraine, which was manufactured in the city of Zaporizhzhia at the semiconductor factory and aluminum production plant.ConclusionTherefore, the available resources in Ukraine and global prospects for the development of critical minerals – particularly, titanium, graphite, rare earths, lithium, beryllium – allow Ukraine to become an element of joint supply chains with NATO states and OECD partner countries, contributing to the integration of Ukraine’s economy into modern high-tech production cycles.Meanwhile, to explore those critical minerals, Ukraine needs large capital and modern technologies. Today, only private foreign companies can provide the necessary funds and expertise. To attract investment in the mining industry, the Ukrainian Government works to create the necessary regulatory environment.Certain achievements can be considered the acquisition of several assets by venture investors from Australia (Volt Resources), Turkey (Onur Group), and Azerbaijan (NEQSOL Holding), as well as the conclusion of a number of important intergovernmental agreements, including the signing of Ukraine’s Facility program with the EU.At the same time, the strategic partnership with the USA can be considered the most promising, it is a logical and necessary action to ensure the rapid development of new competencies of Ukraine in high-tech and innovative sectors of the economy.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com