Ukraine Rare Earths Deal Is Nonsense To Mining Experts

The United States is pinning its hopes on reclaiming expenses incurred on Ukraine during its war with Russia by tapping Ukraine’s vast mineral potential including the development of rare earth element deposits. The problem with this deal is two-fold: one, the deposits in question are mostly within Russian-occupied territory; and two, rare earths are difficult to find lumped together in economic quantities, and even harder to separate into rare earth oxides, that are used in everything from cell phones to electric vehicles to high-tech weaponry.…