What we know about the American mineral deal, Ukraine

Officials in Ukraine and the Trump administration said I reached a deal This would give the United States revenues of Ukraine minerals and other natural resources, after an intense pressure campaign by the US President.

Conditions of the agreement

It is not clear whether the two sides have reached a final agreement on the terms of the deal.

A draft was described by the New York Times on February 25, the establishment of a US -controlled fund, which will receive revenue from natural resources in Ukraine.

Lissed of the draft is the initial demand for Mr. Trump that Ukraine contributes 500 billion dollars to a fund owned by the United States and pays the amount of any American assistance in the future.

• Under the draft agreement, Ukraine will contribute to half of its revenues from liquefying future natural resources, including critical minerals, oil and gas.

• The fund will not depend on revenues from current mines, oil wells and other natural companies.

• The United States will have the maximum financial interest in the allowed fund under American law, although not everything. It is not clear how this will be explained.

• The fund will be designed to re -invest in some revenues to Ukraine.

Security guarantee

Draft Security guarantees referred to it mysteriouslyHowever, it did not refer to any specific commitment in the United States to protect Ukraine’s security – a ruling that was strongly pressured to include its war against Russia in its fourth year.

A copy of the agreement obtained on Wednesday by the New York Times included a sentence stating that the United States “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees required to prove permanent peace.” Previous drafts were not the phrase.

Approval process

President Foludmir Zelinski is expected to travel from Ukraine to Washington on Friday to sign the agreement with President Trump. The draft obtained by the Times Scott Bessen, US Treasury Secretary, and Yulia Sfridinko, Minister of Economy in Ukraine, as the first site.

It was not clear whether the draft, dated on Tuesday, is a final version.

Mineral resources in Ukraine

Ukraine controls more than 100 main deposits for critical mineralsAccording to a study conducted by Kyiv Economics College, as well as modest oil and natural gas reserves.

Ukraine also has deposits of 20 out of 50 minerals, which is a list of American geological survey as an important economic development and defense in America, including:

• Titaniumand Used in construction, aircraft, bone transplantation and as an additive in paint and cosmetics, including sunscreen, among many other things. Titanium mines in central Ukraine account for about 6 percent of global production, according to the Ukrainian media.

• LithiumHesm in batteries, including those in electric cars, and in other industrial products, including some medications. Ukraine has a third of the total European reserves, although some sites are in the areas that are tested in the war. Before the war with Russia, Ukrainian officials, Elon Musk, suggested that he was investing in Ukrainian lithium mines.

• RareA group of more than ten minerals, much abundant than titanium or lithium, which are used in many high -tech sectors, including green energy, electronics and space. Ukraine has often large unpopular reserves, and it is not clear the cost of extracting it.

• ManganeseIt is used for steel melting.

• Zirconiumand It is used in the manufacture of ceramic, nuclear fuel bars and artificial diamonds.

• GraphiteUsed to manufacture steel and electric motors. Ukraine is one of the world’s top producers.

Ukraine also has the largest uranium reserves in Europe, and is used in nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. Oil and natural gas fields are spreading several regions of Ukraine, and surveys conducted before the war find natural gas reserves abroad.

Why are they with value?

Mr. Trump said he wanted revenue from minerals as a payment of the United States’s military assistance to Ukraine.

It can also seek to reach a geopolitical feature on Beijing: Ukraine can break a tray close to the rare ground minerals needed for mobile phones and other electronics and possibly future technologies.

“It is clear that Europe, Japan and the United States are all dependent on China to obtain rare ground elements,” said Seerhi Vizva, director of the Geology Institute at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kiev.

Other materials, minerals and energy are less strategic but still valuable. Ukrainian oil and natural gas reserves can be a source of revenue for the United States -controlled fund, which is imagined in the agreement.

No minerals have already been extensively extracted with the Trump administration, but the development of these resources was a long -term target for Ukraine.

“Our geological base is similar to that in Canada and South Africa, both of which suffer from wide metal resources,” said Mr. Vyzhva, the Ukrainian geologist.

He said that the most productive mines in the country produce iron, titinium, manganese, and zirconium, adding that Ukraine was “very interested” in investment, but its main focus on ending the war. “

The remaining obstacles

When Mr. Zellinski presented last fall the idea of ​​circulating natural resources for military support, he told the Ukrainian parliament that the country’s mineral wealth was the value of “trillion” dollars. He said Bonanza will be available to “Russia, its allies, Ukraine, and the democratic world” depending on who won the war.

Resources are valuable, but experts say that Mr. Zellinski’s appreciation is exaggerated. It remains a lot of exploration that must be done to assess the true value of critical minerals in the country, as they say, and the exhausting bureaucracy and limited investment. Under the Soviet era policy, for example, information about some reserves is classified as government secrets, which prevents foreigners from studying, according to a Ukrainian commercial newspaper.

The Ukrainian government’s revenues last year of natural resources resources amounted to $ 1.1 billion, much less than hundreds of billions of dollars, Mr. Trump said he is seeking the agreement.

The International Energy Agency stated in 2023 that lithium is now extracted in sufficient quantities all over the world to meet global demand.

Lithium deposits and many rare land deposits in the Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia. Some natural gas deposits in the sea in the Black Sea cannot be reached while the fighting continues; Some of the pharmaceutical platforms have become disputed sea bases for both the Russian and Ukrainian naval infantry.

American oil companies and other companies have also tried to carry out business in Ukraine.

Before the military incursion into Russia in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Ukraine reduced deals with Chevron and Shell to explore shale gas, which the country possesses abundant – although it was not economically viable. The Shell project ended with the Russian incursion, which occupied areas near its project location in the Donetsk region. The Chevron Project has been canceled due to geological challenges.

Andrew E. Church and Rappeport in this field The reports contributed.