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US, Ukraine reach minerals deal

Staff Writer | February 25, 2025 | 12:08 pm Critical Minerals Russia and Central Asia USA Rare Earth 
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Credit: Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s official X account

The United States and Ukraine have reached terms on a critical minerals deal, media outlets including the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, in a move Trump administration regards as crucial to brokering a ceasefire with Russia.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said that the minerals deal is close, and a new draft has been almost agreed for both country’s leaders to sign off on. Ukraine’s parliament is expected to recommend on Wednesday that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sign the deal.

Sources later confirmed to Reuters that Zelenskiy is due in Washington on Friday make the deal official.

Both sides have been locked in negotiations since Ukraine rejected the initial offer presented by the US earlier this month. President Zelenskiy has repeatedly stated that guaranteed US military support must be part of any deal. A breakthrough was made this past weekend when the US reduced its demand of $500 billion worth of critical mineral resources as repayment for military aid.

Various reports have suggested that Ukraine has upwards of $10 trillion in mineral deposits, including those containing rare earth elements that are essential to defense and other high-tech industries. However, these deposits have yet to be internationally recognized as economically viable. Ukrainian data shows that the country has deposits of 22 of the 34 minerals identified by the EU as critical.

While details of the agreement are undisclosed, and it is expected that the parties will jointly develop these minerals on a 50/50 basis.

On the US side, a deal represents a way for President Donald Trump to encourage buy-in from his supporters for continued backing for Ukraine, which relies on US and European allies for weapons and ammunition.

Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato institute, told Bloomberg that the deal was about Trump being able to “domestically market a political win,” and for Zelenskiy about deescalating tensions with the US.

2 Comments

  • John Q Public

    Rare earth minerals in Ukraine are difficult to process due to the fact that they are hosted in silica based volcanic rocks. This presents several issues of metallurgy and processing. A commercial grade concentrate requires a REE concentrate of approx. 6o%(ideal) to 40%(low but acceptable; done in Vietnam) . This can only be achieved from REE’s that are hosted in carbonate -carbonatite type rocks. In silica type host rocks there are too many mineral substitutions resulting in a concentrate grade of 8-10% REE, rendering these deposit uneconomic. Another issue is in regards to the old Soviet mineral estimating system i.e. C1,C2 classification system, which is highly, highly unreliable( thus the deposit sizes and quantity is suspect.(every deposit will have to be re-evaluated via the drill bit).Finally REE carry radioactive elements such as uranium& thorium (generally thorium is 2x the uranium content) creating disposal and refining issues. Also daughter radionuclide are created in the deposits. One of the most dangerous is Radon 226, (found in the are around these deposits) is highly carcinogenic to human lungs. This radon daughter is known to affect human living up to 5Km. from the source .So, I do welcome a mineral deal for Ukraine , provided there is a security component included in the transaction to keep the dodgy Russians out.

  • mcschwartz Koonga francis

    Don’t sell Ukraine to American you will regret this zelensky

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