Ukraine's metals production, development projects and resources
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko sign a deal that will give the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine's reconstruction, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025, in this picture obtained from social media. Yulia Svyrydenko via Facebook/via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A dump truck drives past the Southern Iron Ore JV open-pit mine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
LONDON - Ukraine and the U.S. on Wednesday signed a deal heavily promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump that will give the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine's reconstruction.
Here is Ukraine's current metal production, existing production capacity, metals development projects and reserves or resources of deposits.
Sources of information: Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI), US Geological Survey (USGS), International Aluminium Institute, Ukraine's customs service, World Nuclear Association, CEIC, company data.
EXPORTS
In 2024, Ukraine exported goods worth $41.6 billion, of which metals/metals products accounted for $4.4 billion or 11% of the total, according to the customs service.
In 2020, Ukraine's exports were worth $49.2 billion, including $7.7 billion of ferrous metals.
ALUMINA
As of 2021, the Mykolaiv (Nikolaev) Alumina Refinery was refining imported bauxite into 1.8 million metric tons of alumina a year and sending it to Rusal in Russia.
The refinery suspended production after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Mykolaiv's alumina production was equal to 1.3% of the world's total 138.6 million tons in 2021, according to the International Aluminium Institute. In 2024, global alumina production was 147 million tons.
COAL
Ukraine has coal mines, but they are mainly in eastern Ukraine, in Russia-occupied regions.
Ukraine's coal production fell to 23.3 million tons in 2023 from 64.9 million tons in 2013, according to the CEIC data.
GALLIUM
Ukraine produced 1 ton of gallium in 2021, according to the USGS. By comparison, China produced 750 tons in 2024.
GRAPHITE
Ukraine produced 1,200 tons of graphite in 2024 or 0.08% of the world's total, according to the USGS.
Currently, Zavalievsky Plant is the only operating graphite asset in Ukraine. It restarted production in October after a temporary halt due to a lack of investment, according to BMI.
The Balahovskoe Graphite Deposit has yet to be developed. Its operator BGV Graphite invested $10 million in a pre-feasibility study and preliminary economic assessment in 2024. The study was completed in early 2025.
IRON ORE
Ukraine increased iron ore exports by 90% year on year to 33.7 million tons last year as a corridor for exports by sea opened in August 2023.
As of 2020, Ukraine was producing 3.2% of the world's iron ore by content and 1.5% of pig iron, according to the USGS.
LITHIUM
There are two early-stage lithium projects, which would exploit hard-rock deposits, in Ukraine.
Shevchenkivskyi is the biggest and is located in Donetsk, one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has claimed as its own territory.
The second project is the Polokhivske and Dobra deposits located in central Ukraine.
According to Ukraine's State Geological Service, Ukraine has lithium reserves of 500,000 metric tons, which would amount to 1.7% of the world's total.
MANGANESE
As of 2020, Ukraine was producing 3.1% of the world's manganese ore by content, according to the USGS. But production has declined since then.
At least two manganese mining and processing plants in Ukraine have remained idle since November 2023 and another two resumed minimum production in the second quarter of 2024, it added.
Production of silicomanganese fell by 45% to 104,150 tons and of ferromanganese by 66.5% to 3,600 tons in 2024, Interfax-Ukraine reported in February citing the Ukrainian Association of Ferroalloy Producers.
RARE EARTHS ELEMENTS
Ukraine does not currently have any commercially operating rare earth mines or any deposits under active development.
China remains the dominant player in the rare earth market, holding a near-monopoly on global supply.
According to Ukraine's Institute of Geology, the country possesses rare earths such as lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, erbium and yttrium. Detailed data about reserves is classified.
Rare earths are abundant around the globe, but minable concentrations are less common than for most other mineral commodities, according to USGS.
STEEL
Ukraine's steel plants are located in the central, southern and Russia-occupied eastern regions of Ukraine.
Ukraine produced 7.6 million tons of steel in 2024, 0.4% of the global output, down from 21.4 million tons in 2021, according to the World Steel Association.
TITANIUM RAW MATERIALS
Ukraine was the world's fifth-largest producer of titanium sponge with 2.2% share in global output and sixth-biggest producer of ilmenite with 5.8% share in 2020, according to the USGS data which excludes U.S. production.
Since 2022, Ukraine has focused on production of a type of ilmenite concentrate which the chemical industry uses for pigment production.
UMCC Titanium, which Ukraine re-privatized in late 2024, operates a mining and processing plant in the northwest. It restarted production in July.
The company supplied 110,000 metric tons of ilmenite concentrate, partly from existing stocks, to the U.S. and Europe in January-September 2024, according to company data cited by Ukrainian media outlet Liga.net.
URANIUM
Ukraine has the world's 12th largest uranium resources of 107,200 tons, 2% of the global total, according to World Nuclear Association.
Ukraine's production has been volatile in the past 10 years, according to the association, reaching 455 tons or 1% of the world's total in 2021. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
18 minutes ago
- Business Times
Malaysia's April industrial production up 2.7% y/y, below forecast
[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's industrial production rose 2.7 per cent in April from a year earlier, below expectations, government data showed on Wednesday. April's factory output had been forecast to expand 3.9 per cent, according to a Reuters poll of economists. Approved investments in Malaysia rose by 3.7 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier to RM89.8 billion(S$27.2 billion), the Malaysian Investment Development Authority said on Wednesday. Foreign investments were RM60.4 billion, or two-thirds of the total, and domestic investments accounted for RM29.4 billion, the authority said in a statement. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Egypt's crackdown drives Sudanese refugees on new route to Libya and beyond
Bahr el-Din Yakoub, 25, a Sudanese migrant shows a photo of him and other migrants on a small boat they took from Tobruk, Libya to Crete Island during an interview with Reuters at open park in Athens, Greece June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas Bahr el-Din Yakoub, 25, a Sudanese migrant looks on after an interview with Reuters at open park in Athens, Greece June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas Mohamed Lotfy, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), a non-governmental organization in Egypt, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Cairo, Egypt June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Staff Bahr el-Din Yakoub, 25, a Sudanese migrant shows a photo of him and other migrants on a small boat they took from Tobruk, Libya to Crete Island during an interview with Reuters at open park in Athens, Greece June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas Bahr el-Din Yakoub, 25, a Sudanese migrant looks on after an interview with Reuters at open park in Athens, Greece June 2, 2025. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas Egypt's crackdown drives Sudanese refugees on new route to Libya and beyond CAIRO/ATHENS/BRUSSELS - Bahr el-Din Yakoub fled Sudan to seek sanctuary in Egypt after a missile ripped through his home in Khartoum and killed four of his friends. But economic hardship and a crackdown on refugees in Egypt pushed him onwards, first along dangerous desert smuggling routes into northeastern Libya, and then on the perilous sea crossing to the Greek island of Crete. Yakoub, 25, is one of a small but growing number of Sudanese refugees who are giving up on Egypt and taking their chances in Libya, rather than returning home where civil war has been raging since April 2023, according to migrants, smugglers, aid workers and activists. While the flight of tens of thousands of Sudanese to Libya via their common border has been documented, the trend of Sudanese nationals feeling they have no option but to take the northern route out of Egypt has not previously been reported. For this story, Reuters spoke with 32 Sudanese refugees. While a few are still in Egypt, most described how they had moved on due to the difficult conditions there, making it to Libya, Greece and France. And as more Sudanese head to Libya, where the situation can be precarious for refugees, more are boarding boats for Europe. In the first five months of 2025, the number of Sudanese nationals arriving in Europe jumped 134% from a year earlier, even as overall numbers of people crossing from North Africa declined, according to preliminary figures from the U.N.'s refugee agency UNHCR. "The sea was rough and it was a very difficult trip, but we were exhausted by all that we endured in Libya. We had no other choice, either we cross or die," Yakoub said, adding that he had been detained, arrested and ill-treated by Libyan authorities and militias. Europe has supported the Libyan coastguard, which returns migrants stopped at sea to detention centres, and has funded Libyan border management programmes. A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded in 2023 that crimes against humanity had been committed against migrants in some Libyan detention centres. Major General Ibrahim Al-Arbd, head of Libya's Department to Combat Illegal Migration in the eastern Libyan district of al-Butnan, said as of January, 20,000-25,000 Sudanese had crossed into Libya via Egypt since the Sudan war started. He said many of them held refugee status in Egypt but had struggled to settle there due to economic hardship. He said in May that 200-250 Sudanese were crossing per week and, as summer approaches, he expected the number to rise. 'SAFETY BEYOND EGYPT' Since the war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces started, more than 4 million Sudanese have been driven into neighbouring countries, according to UNHCR. By far the largest number, 1.5 million, fled north to Egypt. Although Egypt initially allowed visa-free entry for all but working-age Sudanese men, it limited entries after a surge in arrivals, leading to more refugees using smuggling routes to reach the country, according to migrants, migration lawyers and aid workers. Securing residency in Egypt - a crucial step for obtaining access to basic services such as health and education - also became increasingly difficult, with significant delays and financial barriers, they said. Egypt's Foreign Ministry and State Information Service (SIS) did not respond to requests for comment. Mahmoud Fawzi, Egypt's Minister of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs and Political Communication, denied any restrictions had been placed on issuing residency permits to Sudanese migrants. For many, the process, which required a deposit of about $1,000 under an August 2023 decree, was unaffordable, leaving them living on the fringes of society. Some instead undertook the lengthy project of acquiring U.N. refugee status. But a government crackdown last year put those who had not paid at risk of being rounded up or deported, regardless of their refugee status, according to three migration lawyers in Egypt who have handled hundreds of such cases. Rights groups and migration lawyers said there has been an increase in deportations from Egypt since the passage of a new asylum law at the end of 2024 which placed refugee approval and registration under government control instead of the UNHCR. "The sense of insecurity created by this new situation among refugees and asylum seekers, combined with their inability to return to their own country, has led them to seek safety beyond Egypt, facing the perils of further migration," said Mohamed Lotfy, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, a non-governmental organisation in Egypt. Fawzi said there was no bias against Sudanese nationals and they receive all their rights. He said no deportations happen unless people violate the law, or choose to return home. 'NO WAY I COULD STAY' After leaving Khartoum a few weeks into the war, Yakoub moved three times in search of safety within Sudan. When he couldn't find refuge, he paid smugglers to take him to Egypt. He believed the three-day journey across the desert would lead him to safety and stability, but life in Egypt proved difficult. After arriving in Cairo in January 2024, he slept on cold streets for days, waiting to register with UNHCR. Eventually, he gave up, saying the waiting time was too long. He moved into a small apartment with eight other Sudanese men and worked sporadically as a day labourer. Still, without proper documentation, he risked arrest as authorities began rounding up migrants without papers and deporting them. "The conditions there were not suitable for a refugee ... I did not have the proper documentation, and I was running from the authorities all the time. There was no way I could stay," he said, speaking to Reuters from a migrant camp outside Athens. "I was afraid of getting arrested and being sent back to Sudan, so I went to Libya," he said, "But I found the situation there much worse." Critics of the asylum law say its criteria for determining refugee status are vague and it jeopardises the legal protection of those already recognised as refugees - including those with UNHCR documentation. Lotfy, whose organisation provides legal support to migrants, said the new law appeared to have emboldened security forces further, with a rise in police reports and cases against Sudanese and sub-Saharan Africans. His organisation has documented dozens of cases where police confiscated UNHCR papers before deporting refugees, he said. Egypt's Fawzi denied any refugees or asylum seekers registered with UNHCR had been deported. Numbers of deportations are not made public but according to two Egyptian security sources speaking on condition of anonymity, the security services had deported nearly 21,000 Sudanese, as of the end of March 2025, for their illegal presence or for violating Egypt's laws. Rights group Amnesty International has also documented the detention of migrants in Egypt in what it called cruel and inhuman conditions ahead of such deportations, which it says violate international law. 'USING THE MIGRATION CARD' Egyptian officials say the government has shown generosity by absorbing so many Sudanese despite economic pressures such as double-digit inflation and a dollar crunch. Fawzi said everyone benefits from national subsidy schemes. Migrants in Egypt who spoke to Reuters disputed this, as did an internal EU commission report in 2024 seen by Reuters. It said about 1.5 million of the 9 million migrants Egypt says it has taken in were in vulnerable situations. Of them, nearly 1 million were registered as refugees and asylum seekers as of May 2025, according to the UNHCR. "Migrants and refugees are not entitled to domestic subsidy schemes or social protection programs and a large number of them have become food insecure," the report said, adding that this had prompted many to move onwards. Five Western diplomats and EU officials said Cairo has attempted to pressure Brussels into increasing financial aid - in exchange for stopping migrants from heading to Europe. Tineke Strik, a member of the European Parliament and rapporteur for Egypt, said during a visit in December she met Fawzi and he asked her, "Imagine if our border guards took a four-week holiday. What would happen then?" "They are really using the migration card to get money from the EU," Strik said. Fawzi declined to comment. In March, the EU announced a 7.4 billion euro funding package for Egypt as part of a push to stem migrant flows. Anti-immigration rhetoric has surged throughout the EU since more than a million people, mainly from Syria, arrived via the Mediterranean in 2015. This hostility has been exploited by right-wing and nationalist parties, pushing governments to adopt increasingly restrictive migration policies focused on returns. In recent months, the EU and member states have proposed policies criticised by human rights group to accelerate deportations and send migrants to hubs in third-party countries with which migrants have no connection. Two months after arriving in Libya, Yakoub boarded a dinghy bound for Crete with about 50 other people, mostly Sudanese. The Eastern Mediterranean route he took was the second most active route into the EU from January to April, with 12,228 people crossing, the EU's border agency Frontex said. The Central Mediterranean route to Italy and Malta was the most active. Though the Eastern route has seen a year-on-year decline in traffic, the number of Sudanese has surged to among the top three nationalities from January to May, totalling about 1,469 people, according to Frontex. This represents a significant rise from 361 during the same period last year and 237 the year before. Yakoub said he was relieved to be safe finally in Greece, and to start thinking about the future. "If Greece offers me safety and stability, I will stay." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Five nations and EU urge Trump not to impose new airplane tariffs
President Donald Trump has already imposed tariffs of 10 per cent on nearly all airplane and parts imports. PHOTO: REUTERS Five nations and EU urge Trump not to impose new airplane tariffs WASHINGTON - Five nations and the European Union, as well as airlines and aerospace firms worldwide, urged the Trump administration not to impose new national security tariffs on imported commercial planes and parts, documents released on June 10 showed. Airlines and planemakers have been lobbying President Donald Trump to restore the tariff-free regime under the 1979 Civil Aircraft Agreement that has yielded an annual trade surplus of US$75 billion (S$96.5 billion) for the US industry. The documents made public by the US Commerce Department bared concerns over the fallout of possible new tariffs expressed by companies as well as nations such as Canada, China, Japan, Mexico and Switzerland, besides the European Union. 'As reliable trading partners, the European Union and United States should strengthen their trade regarding aircraft and aircraft parts, rather than hinder it by imposing trade restrictions,' the EU wrote. It would consider its options 'to ensure a level playing field', it added. Mr Trump has already imposed tariffs of 10 per cent on nearly all airplane and parts imports. 'No country or region should attempt to support the development of its domestic aircraft manufacturing industry by suppressing foreign competitors,' the Chinese government wrote. Separately, US planemaker Boeing cited a recent trade deal unveiled in May with Britain that ensures tariff-free treatment for airplanes and parts. 'The United States should ensure duty-free treatment for commercial aircraft and their parts in any negotiated trade agreement, similar to its efforts with the United Kingdom,' Boeing told the Commerce Department in a filing. Mexico said in 2024 it exported US$1.45 billion in aircraft parts, just a tenth of the total, to the United States. The EU said it took US exports of aircraft worth roughly US$12 billion, while exporting about US$8 billion of aircraft to the US. In early May, the Commerce Department launched a 'Section 232' national security investigation into imports of commercial aircraft, jet engines and parts that could form the basis for even higher tariffs on such imports. Last week, Delta Air Lines and major trade groups warned of tariffs' impact on ticket prices, aviation safety and supply chains. 'Current US tariffs on aviation are putting domestic production of commercial aircraft at risk,' Airbus Americas CEO Robin Hayes said in a filing. 'It is not realistic or sensible today to create a 100 per cent domestic supply chain in any country.' Boeing said it had been increasing US content in its airplanes over the last decade and its newest airplanes, the 737 MAX 10 and 777X, would have 'more than 88 per cent domestically-sourced content'. The United Auto Workers union, which represents 10,000 aerospace workers, said it supports tariffs and domestic production quotas, adding that US aerospace employment has fallen to 510,000 in 2024 from 850,000 in 1990. 'To safeguard the entire aerospace supply chain across the commercial and defense sectors, comprehensive tariffs and production quotas on several products are needed,' it said. JetBlue Airways opposed new tariffs, however, saying, 'Trade policy should reinforce, not destabilise, the proven systems that keep our aircraft flying safely and affordably.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
