Oval Office Outburst Reveals Flaws in U.S.-Ukraine Rare Earth Minerals Deal
spectrum.ieee.org
A chaotic Oval Office press conference on Feb. 28 revealed a nonsensical U.S.-Ukraine deal for rare earths, baffling experts who knew Ukraine lacks viable deposits. Is Trump’s rare-earth strategy misguided political theater? With China dominating the market, why ignore U.S. resources? #RareEarths #PoliticalDrama

Experts say proposed deal with U.S. makes no sense

“If you want critical minerals, Ukraine ain’t the place to look for them,” declares Jack Lifton, executive chairman of the Critical Minerals Institute. “It’s a fantasy. There’s no point to any of this. There’s some other agenda going on here. I can’t believe that anybody in Washington actually believes that it makes sense to get rare earths in Ukraine.”

  • Delta_V@lemmy.world
    51·
    2 days ago

    There are no minable deposits of rare earths anywhere. That’s why they’re called rare earth elements. Nowhere on Earth are there geologic processes that concentrate them into ores. The only way to get them is to process absolutely enormous volumes of dirt, at great expense in terms of energy used and pollution created.

    Every country has them.

    Who sells it is a question of which country is willing to render some portion of their territory uninhabitable for the foreseeable future, while also making a larger portion of their territory sick and dirty.