“Ukrainian reserves of critical raw materials have great prospects on the world market. How not to lose them?”, — write: epravda.com.ua
You’ve probably heard the debates going on in the expert community about the economic disadvantage of lithium. The technological dominance of China and the high cost of production do not allow us to assume the profitability of Ukrainian deposits. I have spoken more than once about the situation surrounding Ukrainian critical raw materials and lithium – it is not the only fairy tale from this sector. There is interesting information about beryllium. However, if we look more broadly, we could mine what brings profit. For example, there are germanium deposits in Ukraine. By 2022, Ukraine will take third place in the world in the production of gallium and germanium. With China’s ban on rare mineral exports to the US, we could easily replace it in the supply chain. With small investments and in a short time! I hope that this option is considered at the upper levels of government. This is a question not only of criticality, but also of geopolitics. Our resource proactivity can play a big role given that right now we are bargaining for peace for our country. The role of China and the United States in this process is difficult to overestimate.Advertisement: However, our fields, which are considered as collateral for help from partners, may end up in the hands of the enemy. The situation is not yet very critical, but it is worth keeping it in focus. For example, the Velikotokmatske deposit of manganese ores, the unique Azov and Mazuriv deposits with deposits of zircon and rare earth metals are located near Mariupol in the occupied territory. The same with titanium deposits: the promising Demurynsk GZK with the Vovchansky deposit is threatened by occupation. Titanium is the only critical raw material developed in Ukraine. Battles are taking place 10-12 km from the enterprise, that is, it can be covered by rocket salvo systems or barrel artillery. Now Demurynsk GZK is put up for privatization. Its most important component is the Vovchanskoye deposit, which should be the real raw material base of the recently privatized Vilnohirsky GZK within the framework of OGHC. Advertising: Read also: The Great History of Metallurgy. How Ukraine lost the largest branch of the economy They are located within the Dnipropetrovsk region. The Vilnohorsk beneficiation complex has no reserves of its own. There is equipment and a whole city on the supply, because it was formed around the complex. In order to understand how dependent the city is on the enterprise, I would like to note that the Vilnohirsk water supply system is provided by OGHC, i.e. GZK. I can’t even imagine what will happen to Vilnohorsk if GZK stops due to a lack of raw materials. And I don’t want to think about what will happen if we lose the Vovchansk deposit. Control over such resources is not only an economic, but also a political tool. Russian forces have already seized part of Ukrainian deposits, which makes the protection of resources a strategic task for Ukraine. We have someone to take an example from. The US, in response to the sanctions, began a major program of support for its businesses that work with critical raw materials at a strategic level. Our American holding company, Velta Holding US, has received a letter of intent for a loan from EXIM Bank USA under the China and Transformational Export Programs program. The letter indicates the intention of the state bank to finance our project to build a plant in the USA for 60 million dollars. according to the state program. This program provides competitive financing to help American companies counter China’s global influence and secure leadership in critical sectors, including titanium production. I believe and very much hope that, provided there is investment and political will, Demurynsk GZK will not stop its work and will not cease to be an important source of titanium supply. And Ukraine will be able to claim a place next to the USA and China in the resource war, perhaps even replacing the latter.