A reserve of rare lands that would be around 2.6 billion tonsbut also the presence of other increasingly strategic materials for the current technological industries, such as graphite, of which it has 20% of the world deposits or the lithium of which the Donetsk is rich: this is the treasure that is hidden in the subsoil of Ukraine, which always acquires more and more importance in the comparison between the USA and Russia for the exploitation of the resources present especially in the Donbass air. Rare lands are 17 elements of the periodic table that produce a global market that already is already worth almost 11 billion and which is estimated by 2031 will reach 21.7 billion dollars. An expected growth pace of 7.4% per year. The match of rare lands, indispensable in the technological and defense industry, is increasingly strategic: the 500 billion dollar negotiation that would be playing between the USA and Ukraine is the most clear example. The game will be able to serve the United States to take a step forward to stem the domain of Beijing on the subject. In fact, it is estimated that between 2019 and 2022 the US has imported more than 95% of the rare lands consumed. China is the first world manufacturer with 240 thousand tons produced of material that represent approximately 70% of the total and with an export that also grew by 6% last year. The US, on the other hand, have a production that – although grown a lot in recent years – in 2024 has reached 43 thousand tons. Then there are Australia and Thailand. Russia is in fifth place together with India and Madagascar with 2,600 tons.
So here is the strategic value of Ukrainian resources, a country that has over 20 thousand mines (mostly coal and iron) but also a very important reserve of rare lands that, according to a study by the National Geological Institute, would be around 2.6 billion tons. For example, Kiev is a leader in the production of titanium (a fundamental component also for the construction of missiles). The node of Ukrainian resources, however, is due to the fact that many deposits are found in the Donbass area, the one in which you are fighting and where Russian troops are positioned. The estimate is that at least 12,400 billion dollars of overall value of energy deposits, metals and minerals of Ukraine are now under Russian control. In addition to 63% of the country’s coal deposits, Russia in fact controls 11% of oil deposits, 20% of natural gas deposits, 42% of metal deposits and 33% of rare lands’ deposits and other essential minerals, including lithium. For the USA, therefore, the game is of great value and is wide: just think that the overall resources of rare lands in the United States amount to 3.6 million tons while over 14 million tons are found in Canada, another country entered the Trump’s sights. It is a global and often bloody game, for decades it has been happening in some African countries, and still to be played on the new fronts that open with climate change as in Greenland, the last frontier of US appetites. Also because in the meantime, more generally, Beijing produces 60% of all the elements (not only strictly rare lands) used as components of high -tech devices, including smartphones and computers. China also holds a 13% share of the lithium production market and refine about 35% of the world nickel, 58% of lithium and 70% of cobalt.