Ukraine's Rare Earth Minerals  March 3, 2025

 

What's up sunshine, I'm Coy Wire, welcome to CNN 10. It is Monday, March 3rd, our first episode of the month, Women's History Month.

 

I'm excited to be here starting this week with you, covering the news so we can stay informed on what's happening around the world in 10 minutes or less.

 

Let's get started. Today we start in Ukraine, where a deal allowing the U.S. access to Ukraine's Rare Earth and Critical Minerals is on hold after a tense meeting unfolded in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday.

 

The meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was meant to reset an already strained relationship between the two,

 

and there were high hopes that strengthening the alliance between the two countries would mean steps towards strengthening Ukraine's chances of ending their war with invading Russia.

 

Instead, this meeting was cut short after a heated conversation, and a deal was left unsigned.

 

The bilateral agreement between the two countries would have been the first of its kind. It's set up to have Ukraine and the United States jointly investing in harnessing Ukraine's critical minerals and other valuable resources, in part to help rebuild the country after three years of Russia's full-scale invasion and war.

 

So what are Rare Earth and Critical Minerals? Our Anna Stewart quickly walks us through what these minerals are and why they're so important.

 

Rare Earths are a group of 17 elements which can be useful for electronics, clean energy technologies and some weapons systems. But Ukraine doesn't have globally significant deposits of Rare Earth minerals.

 

What Ukraine does have is a lot of other critical minerals. So what are some of these good for?

 

Well, the US lists 50 minerals that are critical. This includes titanium and zirconium, which is useful for aviation and the space industry, including for defence.

 

zirconium [zɚˋkonɪəm] n.【化】锆

 

Graphite is a key component for EV batteries and nuclear reactors. And lithium is needed for rechargeable batteries. Now, beyond all this being very useful, the US also wants more Rare Earths and other critical minerals as it's an area China has been dominating for years.

 

According to the Ukrainian government, Ukraine has deposits of 22 out of 50 minerals deemed critical to the US. It's unclear which of these minerals and how much of them are actually in this proposed deal. Many of these resources are expensive to mine and some are currently in Russian-occupied areas.

 

Extracting, processing and refining these types of minerals can be very expensive and time-consuming. In Ukraine, the work is further complicated by the ongoing fighting that makes mining even riskier. And the amount of mineral wealth in Ukraine is unclear.

 

Resource mapping hasn't been updated there for decades, with officials and analysts relying on dated Soviet-era mapping.

 

The idea of leveraging Ukraine's resources was originally part of President Zelensky's Victory Plan for steps to end the war. President Trump initially wanted a $500 billion share of Ukraine's minerals to recoup military and humanitarian aid the US provided in the war effort.

 

recoup [rɪˋkup] v. 获得补偿

war effort 战争投入; 战争时期的努力

 

It was rejected by his Ukrainian counterpart. While the new framework for the deal leaves some details to be determined, it would set up a joint reconstruction investment fund with US and Ukraine ownership.

 

The fund would give the US access to part of Ukraine's mineral wealth while helping to boost development in the country.

 

Now it's unclear now whether the two parties will sign a deal. And much hangs in the balance for Ukrainians still at war with Russia. CNN's Nick Payton-Walsh visited a titanium mine in Ukraine to show us how the critical mineral is being unearthed there.

 

We very much need rare earth. They have great rare earth.

 

A moonshot for Ukraine's survival.

 

moonshot [ˋmun͵ʃɑt] n. 月球探測器之發射

 

Talking peace suddenly means talking about places like here, this lunar landscape. A titanium mine struggling under the Russian bombardment of Ukraine's power grid, sometimes with only three hours power a day.

 

Half a trillion dollars.

 

That was the sum that President Trump initially thought Ukraine might be able to pay back to the United States, in his words. And here you get a sense of the challenge, really, because this place, yeah, potential is certainly there, but they say they desperately need investment. These machines are so old.

 

And yes, so they say they would welcome American money.

 

The pressure to get money out of the ground is enormous, as are the questions as to whether the astronomical sums Trump thinks are here can match the money to be made under this sprawling sea of unknown potential.

 

Man, who knows what rare earth is worth, you know, but at least it's something.

 

And who knows what it's worth? Who knows if they even have it?

 

It was at first Ukraine's idea, President Zelensky selling their mineral wealth in November, perhaps too successfully, as part of a victory plan for more aid, showing reporters maps here.

 

They claim 7% global production of titanium. Lithium isn't mined yet, but they say they've 3% global reserves.

 

They say they're in the top five of graphite reserves and have some actual rare earth metals.

 

The initial framework deal doesn't specify what it covers, mentioning only relevant resource assets that will be further described in another agreement. Yet the White House has been specific about some resources.

 

There is a foundry that processes aluminum in Ukraine. It's been damaged. It's not at its current capacity.

 

foundry [ˋfaʊndrɪ] n. 铸造厂；玻璃厂

 

If that is restored, it would account for America's entire imports of aluminum for an entire year.

 

The US, perhaps a little too eager to take Ukraine with no choice but to give in a hugely complex deal that may get messier still when it runs into the cold, hard ground truth of where Ukraine is at today.

 

Ten second trivia.

 

Who invented the first gas powered car in 1886?

 

Henry Ford, Karl Benz, Ferdinand Porsche or Gottlieb Daimler?

 

Your answer is Karl Benz, the German mechanical engineer who created the first modern three wheeled automobile that he dubbed the Motorwagen.

 

For all the Back to the Future fans out there, do you remember the scene? Where the car, the DeLorean, backed out onto the street of the neighborhood, then lifted up and took off flying through the air?

 

Well, imagine if that was our very near future,because it may very well be. An automotive aviation company is promising a flying car that will transform commuting as we know it.

 

Alef Aeronautics is now sharing with the world the first video of its flying car called the Model Zero. Our Jeremy Roth shows us how the company's CEO hopes to eventually make these cars cheaper and more accessible to everyday drivers.

 

Look at this car taking off and hopping over a truck.

 

It's a prototype made by the company Alef Aeronautics, which hopes to put this $300,000 flying car in the fast lane to reality.

 

fast lane 快车道；快速成功之路；平步青云之道

 

Right now, for most people, for the general consumer, it's prohibitively expensive because it's expensive for us to produce one. But it's because it's a very low volume production and it's very inefficient.

 

The end goal, it should be actually same level or less expensive than Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus or anything like that because it's less complex.

 

This CGI rendered video shows the automobile flying through the mountains. The FAA said that Alef Aeronautics vehicle is not the first aircraft of its kind to get a special airworthiness certificate.

 

render [ˋrɛndɚ] v.（艺术上）表现；表演；处理

airworthiness [ˋɛr͵wɝðɪnɪs] n. 适航性；飞行性能

 

However, the company notes that its vehicle stands out because it can drive on roads, fly and be used in search and rescue.

 

Models from companies like SkyDrive, HoverSurf, Volocopter and others are yet to hit the market and make flying cars a reality.

 

Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10 isone super pod of thousands of dolphins.

 

pod [pɑd] n.（海豹、鲸等的）一小群

 

A pod is the collective noun for a group of dolphins and a tour boat captain captured this rare video of more than 2,000 of the flippers off the coast of Monterey Bay, California.

 

The video shows several species of dolphins swimming and breaching as far as the eye can see. So what were they doing? Well, marine biologists say the massive pod may have been clustering to fend off predators or maybe to hunt for food or to socialize.

 

breach [britʃ] v. 突破跳出水面

 

It was a party and they definitely look like they were having some fun.

 

All right. Time now for our first shout out of the week heading to the Buckeye State and the Warriors of West Branch High School in Beloit, Ohio, rise up.

 

Here's your Monday reminder that this week is full of possibilities. I'll leave you with a quote from American poet Walt Whitman, who said, keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. Shine bright, y'all.

 

I'm Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.