Ukraine has all necessary mineral resources for restoration of our country — State Geology and Subsoil Survey

Ukrainian companies spoke about Ukraine's mining potential at an international conference in Brussels. "For the first time, domestic mining enterprises have presented investment projects to European business," the department notes.

Raw Resources Week was held in Brussels on November 14-18, during which the first joint business forum between Ukraine and the EU in the field of critical raw resources took place, Derzhgeonadra reports.

Raw Resources Week is the EU's main annual event for the extractive industry, designed to promote contacts between Ukrainian and European companies and European credit and financial institutions. This year it was held for the seventh time.

"The State Geology and Subsoil Survey selected and placed on an interactive map 1,200 objects with deposits of critical raw materials, among which there are deposits and promising areas available for exploration and further development. In addition, it prepared all the necessary information about the first 30 plots for e-tendering and published them in the Investment Atlas. Information about them is available online in English. The geological conditions of Ukraine are favorable for the exploration of building materials. On the interactive map, we also placed 6,000 plots with raw construction materials, which will be in demand in the conditions of the post-war reconstruction of the state," the head of the State Geology and Subsoil Survey Roman Opimakh.

During the Forum, four Ukrainian companies-stakeholders in the mining of lithium, graphite, rare earth minerals, and beryllium presented European businesses with objects for investment.

Thus, one of the companies — BGV Group Management — presented the graphite and rare earth projects implemented in Ukraine to the European business community. The company is currently conducting Phase 2 pilot trials of the concentrator, is finalizing a preliminary feasibility study (PFS), and will be ready to present its results to investors in early 2023 formally. The company emphasizes that the graphite and rare earth metals mined in Ukraine will be useful not only in the reconstruction of the country but also needed in the world in general.

"Graphite is recognized as a strategic mineral both in America and Europe. Already in 2023, Europe will need 90,000 tons of spherical graphite to provide raw materials for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. We see that this need will only grow in the future. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, the projects announced in Europe until 2031 will require about 20 million tons of graphite ore annually. And cooperation with Ukraine in terms of providing the largest industrial capacities has a number of competitive advantages — both in terms of price, quality of products and their stocks, and in terms of logistical advantages compared to current producing countries. Today, spherical graphite is produced in China, Japan, and South Korea. At the time, the main industrial centers that need graphite are located in Europe," said Serhiy Voytsekhovskyi, a member of the Board of Directors.

In total, more than 100 participants took part in the event.

Reference:

Raw Materials Week is the EU's key annual event for the extractive industry, designed to promote contacts between Ukrainian and European companies and European credit and financial institutions. In 2022, the forum will take place entirely under the auspices of the European Commission. The organizers of the Forum are the Directorate of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and Small and Medium Business of the European Commission (DG GROW), the European Raw Materials Association (ERMA) together with the State Geology and Subsoil Survey

of Ukraine with the support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.