After concluding the rare earth metals deal with the United States, Ukraine has undertaken a number of changes in this area, the most important of which is the government's decision to declassify information on its reserves of critical and strategic raw materials.
This was announced by Ksenia Orinchak, head of the National Association of Mining Industries of Ukraine, in an interview with UNIAN.
According to her, the government and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have declassified data on key mineral groups: diamonds, gold, piezo-optical raw materials, lithium, niobium, tantalum, titanium, zirconium, scandium, platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium and trace elements. A separate decision has also been made regarding gallium, indium, cadmium, rhenium, rubidium, selenium, thallium, tellurium and cesium, Orinchak added.
The only mineral resources for which data remains classified are uranium and uranium ores. However, a decision may be made to remove the classification for them as well, the head of the department said. She announced that a “strategy for critical minerals“ is currently being developed under the leadership of the Ministry of Economy, which will be approved by a government decree. The National Agency for Mineral Resources and Pollution is also involved in the development.
“The draft strategy will stimulate the exploration, extraction and processing of critical raw materials into finished products and contains an operational plan for the period 2026-2030. One of the measures currently being discussed in the future strategy is the option of removing the classification for uranium“, Orincak said.
She stressed that this is crucial for the industry, as strict restrictions on access to data on mineral reserves have slowed down investments. In addition, according to Orincak, this has made it difficult to implement the agreement with the United States.