The giant excavator working in La Pedrera near the Zhytomyr Central Ukrainian city rarely stops stepping, eliminating the land and the precious titanium ore mineral 24 hours a day.
« Ukraine owns about 20 percent of world titanium reserves, » said Dmytro Holik operations manager in CBC News, as the noise of the excavator sank into the distance.
« I am very interested in Ukraine to become a global or European titanium center. »
At this time, Holik and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, seem to share a common ground.
After weeks of painful and often public negotiations between North -American and Ukrainian officials, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Washington on Friday to formally sign a natural resource pact with Trump.
However, the Ukrainian leader sounds quite clear about what he and Trump have accepted exactly.
« This agreement could be a great success or could pass quietly, » Zlenskyy told journalists on Wednesday. « And the great success depends on our conversation with President Trump. »
With the details of the Ukraine, American minerals are still darkened, CBC News visits the places inside Ukraine producing titanium and graphite: two of the country’s critical minerals expect to obtain more American help in the war against Russia.
The basic scheme of the agreement calls for Ukraine to put money from future natural resources projects in Ukraine in an investment fund that both the United States and Ukraine would control. In return, Zelenskyy wants Trump to offer security guarantees after the war with Russia.
But Trump seems to have other ideas. He told journalists at the Oval Office this week that he will not offer any guarantee, even when he obtained the financial advantages of the mineral framework.
« We have been able to make an agreement where we will recover our money, » Trump said, referring to the US $ 120 million of military and financial aid that the Biden administration provided to Ukraine since the complete -scale invasion of Russia in February 2022.
As Zelensky emphasized, the allocation of Congress for Ukraine was not, in fact, a loan.
Strong, dense, light
The installation of titanium in Zhytomyr is operated by the Ukrainian Conglomerate Group DF and has been in operation since 2011. While many of the world’s titanium is used in steel, the brilliant gray mineral processed here is intended for other final products: electronics, engineering and as a bleach for paper.
The strength and density of titanium, along with its light weight, makes it extremely valuable. The item is on the United States list of minerals considered Critic for its economy.
Ukraine has had a Titanium industry since the Soviet era, but Holik says it has fought with the lack of investments and an unstable political situation.
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« The more developed the industry, the lower the cost of production, » he said. « If an entrepreneur is engaged in the titanium, bring parts of replacement from abroad, for example, or bring some new teams from abroad, logistics and cost will be very high. If two entrepreneurs do, (O) three, four, five, will become a hub. »
That is why Holik says the Trump Mineral Pact has the potential to create investors and create interest, even if the details of the frame still need to appear.
Strategic partner
Andrei Lokiev, a geologist with a doctorate and extensive experience in the private sector in Ukraine, says that the United States as a strategic partner in the development of Ukrainian minerals would be important.
« It’s about accessing technologies here to Ukraine, because we don’t have … suitable technologies to develop these fields (minerals), » he said.
The Ukraine government estimates up to five percent of the world’s critical minerals, including titanium, graphite, lithium and beryllium, can be found in the country.
But if Trump or Zelensky is looking for a quick return of their pact, they will be disappointed, according to Lokiev, who served as an infantry in the Ukrainian army in the first 18 months of the war with Russia.
« The fastest way (forward) for a new project is three to five years, and this is (if) you will be ready to push very quickly, » he said.
Lokiev and others in the industry argue that the greatest impediment to unlocking underground wealth in Ukraine is still war.
Another critical mineral
Another critical mineral, Graphite, is in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, from car pieces to pencil.
CBC News visited a graphite operation about 200 kilometers south of Kiev, at the Kirovorad Oblast.
Like the titanium, the green mineral is digging into a quarry and is separated and processed in a nearby installation. But, unlike the titanium operation, which is constantly running, this installation almost did not exceed two weeks of graphite processing by 2024.
« Unfortunately because of the war, they (the owners) have no chance and opportunity to invest more money, » said Ostap Kostyuk, CEO of Zavalivskiy Graphite, who has a 30 percent participation in the operation. The rest is owned by the Australian mining firm Volt.
The graphite operation in Kirovorad is also extremely old. Part of the machinery used to separate and crush the mineral was installed in the 1960’s, when the mine used thousands of workers.
Kostyuk said that the 850 tons of graphite he produced last year were only a fraction of his capacity of 13,500 tonnes. But without the investment to modernize teams, form new workers and develop new markets, the future of the mine is limited, although it has decades for supplies.
« I think the first step is to access (global) companies that will come to Ukraine and open their own mines and then we will see changes, » he said.
But Kostyuk insisted that « they have to pay for it. » He said that any movement to give US companies a tax or Royalties state will not only oppose the country’s mining industry, but most of the Ukrainians.
He says that if the Trump mineral agreement acts as a catalyst to end the war, it is worth it. But it’s too early to know.
« I hope you give us new opportunities, but I don’t think Trump knows what he will give us, and I don’t think Zelenskyy knows what he will give us. »
The suspicions are maintained
Many Ukrainians are still suspected of the President of the United States.
CBC News met a group of war veterans at a fundraising event in Kiev, as the Ukraine government was preparing to approve the mineral agreement.
They had all lost their limbs in the current conflict.
« I don’t think there is a reason to give Americans Natural Resources, » said Bogdan Kovbasyuk, a 27-year-old girl who left the left leg when a Russian missile struck near her front-line position in Eastern Donbas region.
« I do not trust them, considering propaganda in the United States on Putin, » he said.
Trump has said that he believes that the President of Russia wants peace and that the war is over, an idea that most of the Ukrainians make fun.
« I think America has not yet gained the right to take as many of our natural resources as they want, » said David Jung, 50, who lost a leg when a Russian anti-tank missile struck his vehicle, hitting him and fixing it under him.
« There must be an adequate balance, not only that they give us weapons. »
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