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<\/p>\nUkraine\u2019s lithium deposits are among biggest in Europe and the US is looking for \u2018payback\u2019 for previous military assistance.<\/p>\n
The lithium deposit is located in central Ukraine\u2019s Kirovohrad region, about 350km (217 miles) south of the capital, Kyiv. Solar-powered scientific instruments measure air temperature and seismic activity. In 2017 a Ukrainian company, UkrLithiumMining, bought a government licence to exploit the site for 20 years. It cost $5m. Geological surveys confirm that the ore, known as petalite, can be used to produce batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones.<\/p>\n
According to the US president, Donald Trump, these underground reserves should now belong to America. Last week, the new US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, visited Kyiv. He presented Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with a surprise claim to half of Ukraine\u2019s mineral wealth, as well as to its oil, gas, and infrastructure such as ports. The $500bn bill was \u201cpayback\u201d for previous US military assistance to Ukraine, the White House explained.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy refused to sign the agreement. He made it clear Washington had to give security guarantees before any deal could be reached on the country\u2019s vast natural resources, about 5% of global mineral reserves. He also pointed out that the US had given $69.2bn in military aid \u2013 less than the sum Trump was now demanding \u2013 and added that other partners such as the EU, Canada and the UK might be interested in investing, too.<\/p>\n
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Speaking on Wednesday, shortly before Trump called him \u201ca dictator\u201d, Zelenskyy said he could not \u201csell Ukraine away\u201d. He was willing to work on \u201ca serious document\u201d, he said, which ensured Russia did not attack Ukraine again.<\/p>\n
US and Ukrainian negotiators were seeking to move past the spectacular breakdown in transatlantic relations and to finalise a deal, Bloomberg said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Commentators have described Trump\u2019s aggressive ultimatum as \u201cmafia imperialism\u201d, a \u201ccolonial agreement\u201d, and reminiscent of what the Europeans did in the 18th century when they carved up Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s as if we lost the war to America. This looks to me like reparations,\u201d Volodymyr Landa, a senior economist at the Centre for Economic Strategy thinktank in Kyiv, said. Ukraine\u2019s overall reserves are worth $14.8tn. They include lithium, titanium and uranium, as well as coal, steel, iron ore, and undersea shale gas. Many deposits had not been developed, Landa said, either because they were not feasible or due to political instability.<\/p>\n
Others are in areas occupied by Russia. Ukraine\u2019s lithium deposits \u2013 about 500,000 tonnes\u2019 worth \u2013 are among the biggest in Europe. One site is in Kruta Balka, near the southern port of Berdiansk, which the Kremlin occupied early in its 2022 invasion. Another is in the Shevchenkivskyi district, on the frontline in the eastern Donetsk oblast. Russian troops recently took control of the area.<\/p>\n
The deposit in Liodiane is one of two under Ukrainian control.<\/p>\n
According to Landa, Ukraine\u2019s minerals sector has \u201chigh risks and high rewards\u201d. There is a long history of foreign investment, he said, with French, Belgian and British engineers developing the country\u2019s coal industry in the 19th century. The city of Donetsk \u2013 seized by Russia in 2014 \u2013 was originally named Hughesovka, after the Welsh businessman John Hughes, who founded a steel plant and several coalmines in the region.<\/p>\n
Source: The Guardian.<\/a><\/p>\n