Putin outlines potential aluminum, rare earth deals with the US

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the US the opportunity for joint exploration of the country’s rare earth metals deposits, as well as the supply of aluminum to the US domestic market, under a future economic deal.

US President Donald Trump earlier said that “major economic development transactions with Russia” would take place. Within two hours of Trump’s statement, Putin chaired a meeting with his ministers and economic advisers on rare earth metals.

“We, by the way, would be ready to offer (joint projects with) our American partners, and when I say ‘partners,’ I mean not only administrative and governmental structures but also companies, if they showed interest in joint work,” Putin said on state TV after the meeting.

“We undoubtedly have, I want to emphasize, significantly more resources of this kind than Ukraine,” Putin added. He mentioned that a potential US-Ukraine deal involving rare earth metals was not a concern for Russia.

Russia has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare earth metals, according to the US Geological Survey data, after China, Brazil, India and Australia. Russia reserves are estimated at 3.8 million metric tons.

The rare earth metals are used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, missile systems, and other electronics. Russia mines only 2,500 tons of concentrate a year and lacks capacity for processing.

Putin said that potential rare earth metals exploration deals could also be extended to deposits in territory in eastern Ukraine that Russia controls after three years of military action.

Putin noted that Russian companies could also supply up to 2 million tons of aluminum to the US market annually if the US market reopens. Russia used to provide up to 15% of US aluminum imports before prohibitive duties were introduced in 2023.

“This (Russian aluminum supplies) will not significantly affect price formation. However, in my opinion, it would still have a restraining influence on prices,” Putin said.

Putin suggested that Russia and the US could work jointly on hydropower generation and aluminum production in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, which is the home base for Russia’s largest aluminum maker, Rusal.

“What is most important, in my opinion, is that we could consider working together with American companies in this area,” Putin said. He estimated potential investment in this project at $15 billion.

Putin said that joint projects could be extended to the energy sector as well, and that some Russian and US companies were already in touch. He did not give details.

In a transcript posted by the Kremlin, Putin said rare earths were a priority sector for Russia’s economic development and competitiveness.

The government sought to “boost the potential of the domestic industry” extending from extraction to “manufacture of ready-made high-technology goods,” he said.

“Based on the results of the national project, the volume of output of such goods should increase several times over,” he said.

(By Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates)