A minerals agreement with Ukraine could help the US weaken China’s dominance. Kseniya Orynchak, Executive Director of the National Association of Extractive Industries of Ukraine, made this statement in an interview with LB.ua.
“China dominates the processing of many critical minerals, controlling a significant share of global capacity. Therefore, cooperation between the US and Ukraine in mining and processing minerals such as titanium, graphite and lithium could help diversify supply sources and reduce dependence on Chinese capacity,” she said.
However, the entire process of geological exploration, extraction and processing in Ukraine requires significant investment and time.
“Ukraine, despite having virtually the entire periodic table, has not assessed how much and what kinds of critical raw materials it needs after 33 years of independence – for what technologies, industries, where to export them, and so on,” she added.
Thus, Ukraine could help strengthen America’s position in its competition with China.
“But not today, and not in five years. If we are talking about projected resources and undiscovered reserves, then in 10–15 years – yes.
For example, if we take titanium or lithium ores, each deposit requires an individual approach. Special drilling and laboratory confirmation are needed. By the way, we don’t have certified laboratories… Everything must be verified because the available Soviet data is outdated. Geological work takes from 1–5 years. Reaching design capacity takes 7–10 years. The first return on investment comes after 10–20 years or more. And payback and profit take at least 30 years.
This agreement with the United States is not about the Trump administration, not about these next four years,” Orynchak said.
Read the full interview today on LB.ua.