Heritage Foundation Vice President of National Security and Foreign Policy Victoria Coates weighs in on a potential U.S.-Ukrainian mineral deal and Israel not releasing prisoners until Hamas stops humiliating hostages.
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are expected to meet Friday in Washington, D.C., to sign an agreement on the development of rare earth mineral projects in Ukraine, as well as oil and gas projects.
Under the newest version of the deal that the Ukrainian Cabinet approved on Wednesday, a reconstruction investment fund with joint U.S.-Ukraine ownership would be established. Ukraine’s government said it plans to move half of its revenues from future oil, gas and mineral projects into the fund, some of which would be reinvested for more development.
Once the initial framework is formally agreed to, the two countries will negotiate a “subsequent agreement” over control of the fund and its operation. While the Trump administration initially demanded $500 billion of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals for roughly $185 billion in aid it has provided, the latest deal doesn’t include a concrete figure for mineral revenues or the size of the U.S. stake.
Rare earth minerals, a term applied to a group of 17 elements including 15 metals, carry economic significance because they’re used in a wide range of consumer electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), aircraft engines, medical equipment, oil refining and military applications like missiles and radar systems.Â
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE US-UKRAINE MINERAL DEAL SO FAR
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump are set to meet Friday. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton / Reuters)
They’re also geopolitically significant because China controls about 60% of global mine production and 90% of processed and permanent magnet output.Â
The Chinese Communist Party has implemented export controls on some rare earths to prevent them from being used by the U.S. – a dynamic that could intensify if U.S.-China tensions rise in the future over issues like Taiwan’s continued autonomy.
China has about 44 million tons of rare earth mineral reserves, the largest of any country according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) – while the U.S. ranks seventh with 1.9 million tons. Brazil ranks second with 21 million tons, followed by India (6.9 million), Australia (5.7 million), Russia (3.8 million), and Vietnam (3.5 million), while Canada ranks eighth (0.8 million).
TRUMP SAYS UKRAINE RARE-EARTH MINERALS DEAL WILL LEAD TO ‘SUSTAINABLE’ FUTURE BETWEEN US, UKRAINE
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine a little more than three years ago in February 2022. (Sergei Malgavko\TASS via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Ukraine possesses rare earth elements such as lanthanum and cerium, which are used in TVs, lighting and catalytic converters; neodymium, which is used in wind turbines and EV batteries; as well as erbium and yttrium, which have a range of applications that include nuclear power and lasers.Â
The country also has significant reserves of non-rare earth minerals like coal, graphite, lithium, titanium and uranium.
Estimates from Ukrainian think tanks We Build Ukraine and the National Institute of Strategic Studies suggest that about 40% of Ukraine’s metal resources, which include other non-rare earths, are located in areas of eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia has occupied amid its invasion.
MP Materials operates Mountain Pass Mine, located in California’s Mojave Desert. It helped the U.S. remain largely self-sufficient from the mid-1960s – 1980s. (MP Materials / Fox News)
TRUMP SAYS MINERALS DEAL HAS BEEN ‘PRETTY MUCH’ NEGOTIATED WITH ZELENSKYY, MEETING SLATED FOR FRIDAY
What are rare earths?
Rare earth minerals aren’t necessarily rare in the sense that there are few of them, but rather they tend to occur in relatively small quantities or are mixed with other minerals such that they’re difficult to find and costly to extract and process.
In the order of their appearance on the periodic table of elements, rare earth minerals include: scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Processing rare earths for use in a variety of capacities tends to require the use of solvents, which can produce toxic waste that pollutes the soil, water and atmosphere. Some rare earth ores also contain radioactive thorium or uranium, which is often removed using acid. While more environmentally friendly technologies are under development, they aren’t yet widely used.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.