Rare Earths For Military Aid To Ukraine?
Today Donald Trump said that Ukraine must provide rare earths in return for military assistance from the US. But Ukraine does not mine rare earths.
Like many geological entities, the rare earths were named during the 18th and 19th centuries. At that time, they seemed rare, but later exploration has shown that they are fairly common and occur in many places. Ukraine has reserves of many minerals, some genuinely rare, and the rare earths as well.
The deposits of rare earths are mostly in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
A more detailed map can be found here (source).
Mining is difficult during a war, and starting new mines at the scale probably desired by Trump is expensive. So any deal for rare earths would have to be for future deliveries.
From a recent Ukrainian presentation,
Trump is probably intrigued by the “rare” designation. And the metals are genuinely necessary for many modern applications. But “the deal” is probably the point for Trump.
Many thanks to Ukraine War Brief Podcast for providing the presentation.
Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner