Ukraine has selected the winner of a competition to develop a lithium deposit under a production sharing agreement for the first time. This was announced by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who called the project an important step towards integrating the country into global supply chains for critical minerals.
The pilot project is the Dobra lithium deposit in the Kirovohrad region. A minimum capital investment of $179 million is expected to be attracted, of which $12 million will be allocated to new geological exploration and international audit of reserves, and another $167 million to the organisation of extraction and enrichment in case of confirmation of industrial reserves.
Ukrainian and foreign companies and consortia with the appropriate financial resources, technical capabilities and experience in the field of subsoil use were admitted to the competitive selection process based on a 100-point evaluation system. The winner was Dobra Lithium Holdings JV, LLC, whose shareholders are the international companies Techmet and The Rock Holdings, which have significant experience in the extraction of critically important minerals.
According to Svyrydenko, the project should serve as an impetus for attracting new investors, and the Dobra site is only the first stage of a more ambitious plan to integrate Ukraine into the strategic supply chains of its partners. She stressed that the production sharing agreement mechanism provides for the extraction of minerals in partnership with the state, while the deposit remains the property of the Ukrainian people.
The Prime Minister also noted that attracting strategic investors from the US and the EU increases international attention to Ukraine, promotes the introduction of modern extraction and processing technologies, and creates additional security guarantees for the state.