A map of critical mineral warehouses and rare lands found in Ukraine. Photo credit: yasin demirci / anadolu / aa / abaca / abaca press / profimedia
Ukrainian officials and a team of US International Development Finance Corporation will make field visits to identify investment projects within the mineral agreement signed between Kiev and Washington, the Ukrainian Minister Oleksi Sobolev announced, according to news.ro.
The agreement, signed in April and promoted intensely by US President Donald Trump, offers the United States preferential access to new mining projects in Ukraine, in exchange for investments.
For Kiev, understanding is a way to attract financial support necessary for the reconstruction of the economy and infrastructure destroyed by the war triggered by Russia in 2022, but also to ensure the continuation of American support in the field of defense.
“At this moment there are visits to the American field, and tomorrow we go together in the regions to identify an investment portfolio,” Sobolev told a conference held on Saturday, in Kiev, with Ukrainian, American and European officials. He said that the government aims to select three pilot projects in the next 18 months.
According to the agreement, half of the revenues obtained by the Ukrainian government in the new mining operations will be directed to a common investment fund, with the profits divided between Kiev and Washington. The fund is to finance not only the mining sector, but also energy and infrastructure projects.
Ukraine has 22 of the 34 minerals considered critical by the European Union for industries such as defense, top technology and green energy. The country also has the ferroaliacs necessary for the steel industry, non -ferrous metals used in constructions, as well as some precious metals and rare elements.
