NOOOOO!

Bottom line: For Donald Trump, this could turn out to be the deal of the century — or could leave him with a bunch of loss-making mines no American company will ever want to invest in.

Read it all on @politico.eu

Problem No. 4: Several of Ukraine's most promising mineral prospects — including lithium and rare earths used in the defense and electronics industry — are either under Russian occupation or on the front lines.

It's not easy to build a mine in a warzone, as it turns out.

Problem No. 3: The technology to extract and process some of these minerals — like the "rare earths" Trump is fixated on — is advanced and expensive.

China currently processes 90% of rare earths worldwide and it's the only country with enough know-how and infrastructure to do it on a large scale.

Problem No. 2: Extracting minerals takes time and costs money, especially in a country whose basic infrastructure (think roads, factories, power plants) has been decimated by the war.

Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction costs are estimated at $524B — a sum many private investors would balk at.

Problem No. 1: Assessments of Ukraine's reserves of critical raw materials are largely based on often incomplete Soviet-era assessments from the 1960s-1980s.

It means we don't know how extensive Ukraine's mineral riches actually are, and how hard it would be to make the mines viable.

...Think recycling targets and money spent on biodiversity projects.

This affects you too – did you know that as of last week, you can't throw out old socks or shoes in the bin anymore.

data visualisation by @gi-coi.bsky.social