Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with President Donald Trump on Friday to sign an agreement that would allow the United States access to Ukraine’s mineral reserves.

The deal would give the U.S. a financial stake in Ukraine’s future. Trump has said the agreement would also allow the U.S. to get paid back for what it has previously supplied Ukraine in military aid. 

The terms of the deal are still uncertain. The New York Times reported that a draft agreement included a fund controlled by the U.S. that would receive revenues from natural resources in Ukraine. It also included a term for Ukraine to contribute 50% of its future earnings from minerals and other natural resources into the fund.

It also did not include a security agreement. Zelensky is expected to speak with Trump in Washington, D.C. on Friday about the terms of the deal.

Here’s what to know about the minerals in question.

What are the minerals in question?

Although it is unclear which specific rare earth minerals and critical minerals have been included in the deal, Ukraine is reportedly home to a number of natural resources. The World Economic Forum said Ukraine can be a key supplier of rare earth metals, such as titanium, lithium, beryllium, manganese, gallium, uranium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorite, and nickel.

It is estimated that the country has 500,000 metric tons of lithium reserves. The World Nuclear Association said Ukraine has over 107,000 metric tons of uranium. Additionally, Ukraine was among the top 10 graphite producers in the world before the war. Ukraine was also one of the leading importers of titanium for the U.S. last year.

Are these minerals profitable?

Diego Rivera Rivota, a Senior Research Associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, said it is unclear whether there are significant reserves of critical minerals in Ukraine that are commercially viable. 

In 2022, Ukraine claimed to have 5% of the world’s “critical raw material,” but Rivota said that those claims have not been assessed since then.

“We don’t have clarity from an independent assessment, from an objective [or] reliable data points of how and which, if any, minerals are commercially viable and susceptible to behold of massive scale or great scale production in Ukraine,” Rivota said. 

Roman Opimakh, former director general of the Ukrainian Geological Survey, told Commodity Insights earlier this month that there has not been a modern assessment of Ukraine’s rare earth reserves. The existing maps were created decades ago by the Soviet Union. 

What can these minerals be used for? 

Minerals that could be part of the deal are important for a number of technologies, specifically in the defense and energy sectors. 

For instance, lithium can be used to produce batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones. Uranium can be used as fuel in nuclear plants and weapons. Titanium can be used to build aircraft, offshore rigs, and power plants. 

There are 17 rare earth minerals, and they are used in high-tech sectors such as energy and defense. They are used in wind turbines, fuel cells, and satellite communications. 

“We can collectively say that there’s very rapid demand for these minerals,” Rivota said. He added that regardless of whether a country wants to transition toward renewable energy, these minerals are needed in other sectors, such as defense or aerospace. 

The U.S. has made an effort to transition toward renewable energy, but critical minerals are essential for producing batteries, wind turbines, solar panels, and other energy sources. Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. government has attempted to boost the production of critical minerals by issuing loans for mining projects.

The clean energy transition has driven the demand for critical minerals. In 2023, global demand for lithium rose by 30%, and nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements saw demand increases ranging from 8% to 15%, the International Energy Agency said. 

What does the deal mean for U.S. energy?

Ultimately, how the deal will affect U.S. mineral security will depend on if the private sector is willing to go to Ukraine to mine, said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

“Government-to-government coordination is great, but it’s only useful if the private sector minds it,” Baskaran said. 

Baskaran noted that the U.S. government can help create an enabling environment to encourage investors, but it is not a miner. She said there are several constraints facing the private sector, such as the security situation, mining infrastructure, and the uncertainty of whether these minerals are economically viable to mine. 

There is “no doubt” Ukraine has resources, she said, adding, “We know broadly what they have, but what they have is different than whether it is economically appealing to mine it.” 

What about Russia?

Before the U.S. and Ukraine settled on a tentative agreement Tuesday evening, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that he would be open to a minerals deal with the U.S.

Putin said earlier this week that he would work with U.S. companies to mine rare earth minerals in Russian-occupied Ukraine and Russia itself.  

“I want to stress that we certainly have much more of such resources than Ukraine,” Putin said on state media on Monday. “Russia is one of the leading countries when it comes to rare metal reserves. By the way, as for new territories, we are also ready to attract foreign partners. There are certain reserves there too.”

He added that Russia would sell nearly 2 million tons of aluminum to the U.S. if the U.S. lifted sanctions on Russian metals. 

“Minerals are the current love language of world leaders right now,” Baskaran said. “Putin is really at a point where he needs to get off of the pariah list, and he’s hoping that minerals will do that for him.”

US and Ukraine will sign ‘very big’ minerals deal, Trump confirms

Putin has not reacted to the Ukraine and U.S. deal, which is in its final stages. The agreement will be signed on Friday, with Zelensky planning on traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet Trump. 

“Minerals are the currency of geopolitics and cooperation right now,” Baskaran said. “If you want to engage with the U.S., minerals are a really good way to do it right now.”