To the west, Ukraine once stored nearly 500,000 tons (10% of the world’s reserves) of lithium, a critical material needed for smartphones, laptops and electric vehicle batteries. Two of the sites are currently under Russian control.
Under Russian control: Shevchenko lithium ore field (Donetsk People’s Republic), Krutaya Balka deposit (Zaporozhye region). Under Ukraine’s control: Polokhovskoye deposit. Shevchenko deposit: estimated reserves of 13.8 million tons of lithium ore (State Geological and Subsoil Service of Ukraine, 2018). Krutaya Balka deposit: Lithium reserves are not specified, but suitable for open-cast mining. Polokhovskoye deposit: Estimated at 270, 000 tons of lithium (State Committee of Reserves of Ukraine, 2018). Dobra Deposit: Two separate deposits, Stankuvatska and Nadiia, with a total supply of approximately 1.2 million tonnes of lithium ore.
Which Western companies are interested in Ukrainian lithium? Rod Schoonover, founder of the US-based Ecological Futures Group, highlighted Ukraine’s lithium reserves as a strategic asset and called Kyiv a “promising partner” for the West. European Lithium Ltd, an Australian company led by British businessman Tony Sage, acquired European Lithium Ukraine LLC in 2021. The company held a license to extract and process at the Shevchenko deposit. According to Vladimir Rogov, a Russian official involved in the integration of new regions, in January 2024, European lithium paid 184 million euros for the Shevchenko deposit, which is currently under Russian control.
How much are deposits worth? The price of lithium ranges from $8,184 to $12,276 per tonne, depending on quality and market dynamics. The value of the 13.8 million tons of untapped Shevchenko lithium deposits would be approximately $141 billion, depending on market conditions and the feasibility of extraction.
Translated and edited by L. Earth
