# What minerals does Ukraine have and what are they used for?

**5 March 2025**

**By Abdujalil Abdurasulov (BBC News, Kyiv) and Robert Plummer (BBC News)**

## What minerals does Ukraine have?

Kyiv estimates that about 5% of the world's "critical raw materials" are in Ukraine.

- **Graphite**: Used to make batteries for electric vehicles.
- **Titanium**: A lightweight metal used in the construction of everything from aeroplanes to power stations.
- **Lithium**: A key component in current batteries.
- Other elements include **beryllium**, **uranium**, **copper**, **lead**, **zinc**, **silver**, **nickel**, **cobalt**, and **manganese**.
- **Rare earth metals**: A group of 17 elements used to produce weapons, wind turbines, electronics, and other products vital in the modern world.

Some of the mineral deposits, however, have been seized by Russia. According to Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's economy minister, resources worth $350bn (£277bn) remain in occupied territories today.

In 2022, SecDev, a geopolitical risk consultancy based in Canada, conducted an evaluation which established that Russia had occupied 63% of Ukrainian coal mines, as well as half of its manganese, caesium, tantalum, and rare earth deposits.

Dr Robert Muggah, principal of SecDev, says that such minerals add a "strategic and economic dimension" in Russia's continued aggression. By seizing them, he says, Moscow denies access to revenue for Ukraine, expands its own resource base, and influences global supply chains.

## Why does the US want Ukraine's minerals?

Critical minerals "are the foundation of the 21st Century economy", according to Dr Muggah. They are key to renewable energy, military applications, and industrial infrastructure and play "a growing strategic role in geopolitics and geoeconomics", he said.

Additionally, the US is keen on a deal for Ukraine's mineral resources because it wants to reduce dependency on China, which controls 75% of rare earth deposits in the world, according to the Geological Investment Group.

In December, China banned the export of some rare earth minerals to the US, having previously limited mineral exports to the US the previous year.

## How would a deal help Kyiv exploit its minerals?

Some commentators have described the US offer as "colonial", but Kyiv is interested in joint exploration of its resources.

According to the World Economic Forum, Ukraine has about 20,000 mineral deposits covering 116 types, but only about 15% of sites were being actively exploited at the time of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

For instance, the country's sizeable lithium deposits are still largely untapped. Likewise, rare earth deposits are known to exist, but none of them have yet been mined, because of a lack of investment.

Developing these mineral resources is extremely difficult and expensive, according to Iryna Suprun, chief executive of the Geological Investment Group.

She argues that if Ukraine can attract US investors to help develop its natural resources, it will be highly beneficial for the country's economy.

"We will get technologies that our mining industry lacks so much," Ms Suprun explained. "We will get capital. That means more jobs, tax payments. We'll receive revenue from the development of mineral deposits."

Trump has also suggested the presence of US contractors in Ukraine would act as a security guarantee to deter Russian aggression in the future, but Ukraine and European leaders have insisted that would not be enough.

## Related Articles

### US tech firms feel pinch from China tariffs
- **2 days ago**: US & Canada


### Is the US really heading into a recession?
- **3 days ago**: Business


### Trump is no longer swayed by the stock markets
- **4 days ago**: Business


## More

### Focus on future as town twins with war-torn city
- **3 hrs ago**: Hereford & Worcester


### 'If we stop, they won't': Ukrainians react to Russia's ceasefire demands
- **10 hrs ago**: Europe


### US had productive talks with Putin over Ukraine war, Trump says
- **11 hrs ago**: Europe


### Prospect of Ukraine ceasefire still uncertain despite Trump's optimism
- **13 hrs ago**: Europe


### Russian sentenced to life for war crimes in Ukraine
- **19 hrs ago**: Europe

```