Rare metals: Ukraine joins the high-tech race
Famous for his inadequate remarks about a trip to Moscow with a gun, Minister of Transport Nezalezhnaya made a new high-profile statement. Vladimir Omelyan proposed making Ukraine a world center for the production of electric vehicles. According to the official, the presence of “the richest deposits of lithium and cobalt in Europe” is enough for this. How realistic are the prospects for transforming Independence into an “electric superpower”? Let's try to figure it out.
First of all, it is necessary to understand that automobile production, especially electric vehicles, is characteristic only of the most industrialized and wealthy countries: the USA, Germany, Japan, France, South Korea, Italy and China. Car manufacturing requires availability of technologies or licenses for their use. A well-developed component base and hundreds of thousands of professionally trained highly paid specialists directly on the automobile conveyor and in related industries are also needed. Where does all this come from today in Ukraine?
The country is officially recognized as the poorest country in Europe, in fact in a pre-bankrupt state. Queues of those wishing to invest in the Ukrainian auto industry are hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars, something is not observed. In addition, the reputation of the producing country is of great importance in the eyes of consumers. Ukraine with Zaporozhets as a symbol of its automobile industry is unlikely to be able to compete with leading European and Asian automakers.
It turns out that Independent, if it can claim to be included in the production chain, it is only at the lowest, resource level. A modern electric car is a real battery on wheels. For example, in Tesla S, with a total weight of 2250 kg, the battery weighs 540 kg. To accumulate electricity in a lithium-ion battery, two metals are mainly used - lithium and cobalt. Lithium directly accumulates energy, and cobalt allows you to save the battery charge in the cold and recharge the battery many times.
What is there with lithium in Ukraine?
In fact, its reserves in Nezalezhnaya are available, and they are located in the Donetsk and Kirovograd regions. The fields belong to Ukrainian oligarchs and President Poroshenko, which may explain the authorities' interest in the issue of electric vehicle production. But the problem is that the extraction of this resource has a very high cost. Those lithium deposits in the Kirovograd region lie at a depth of half a meter, in granite rock, and even next to the uranium core, which requires additional costs to ensure safety. The field in the Donbass is located in relative proximity to the line of contact of the Armed Forces with the militia. Not a single Western investor will invest in a mine, which can be in the war zone at any time.
In the bottom line, all this means that, despite the significant reserves of lithium in Nezalezhnaya, its production today is unprofitable, and cannot be of interest to Western industrialists.
What about cobalt?
It's worse here. The fact is that this metal is very rare in nature and expensive. At the same time, its consumption is constantly growing. So why should Ukraine not become a “cobalt superpower”? It is possible, but for this, Ukrainians will have to start competing with the Congolese. The world leader in the extraction of rare metal is Congo due to the peculiarities of its occurrence and working conditions of workers:
Even if Petro Poroshenko sends Ukrainian children to the mines to work for food, the low cobalt content in the ore will remain an insoluble problem. So, in Congolese deposits, the nickel content in the rock is 35%, and cobalt - 5%, which is very, very good. But in Ukrainian ores this will be 0,4 - 1% nickel and 0,05 - 0,09% cobalt, respectively. Obviously, the production of cobalt in Nezalezhnaya, the real amount of which is estimated not in millions, but only in 100 tons, will cost a pretty penny in comparison with its main competitors.
However, if Kiev is forced to work for free at the mines of prisoners of war from among the Donbass militias or prisoners, then someday Ukraine will overcome the Congo and become a modern and civilized European power.
First of all, it is necessary to understand that automobile production, especially electric vehicles, is characteristic only of the most industrialized and wealthy countries: the USA, Germany, Japan, France, South Korea, Italy and China. Car manufacturing requires availability of technologies or licenses for their use. A well-developed component base and hundreds of thousands of professionally trained highly paid specialists directly on the automobile conveyor and in related industries are also needed. Where does all this come from today in Ukraine?
The country is officially recognized as the poorest country in Europe, in fact in a pre-bankrupt state. Queues of those wishing to invest in the Ukrainian auto industry are hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars, something is not observed. In addition, the reputation of the producing country is of great importance in the eyes of consumers. Ukraine with Zaporozhets as a symbol of its automobile industry is unlikely to be able to compete with leading European and Asian automakers.
It turns out that Independent, if it can claim to be included in the production chain, it is only at the lowest, resource level. A modern electric car is a real battery on wheels. For example, in Tesla S, with a total weight of 2250 kg, the battery weighs 540 kg. To accumulate electricity in a lithium-ion battery, two metals are mainly used - lithium and cobalt. Lithium directly accumulates energy, and cobalt allows you to save the battery charge in the cold and recharge the battery many times.
What is there with lithium in Ukraine?
In fact, its reserves in Nezalezhnaya are available, and they are located in the Donetsk and Kirovograd regions. The fields belong to Ukrainian oligarchs and President Poroshenko, which may explain the authorities' interest in the issue of electric vehicle production. But the problem is that the extraction of this resource has a very high cost. Those lithium deposits in the Kirovograd region lie at a depth of half a meter, in granite rock, and even next to the uranium core, which requires additional costs to ensure safety. The field in the Donbass is located in relative proximity to the line of contact of the Armed Forces with the militia. Not a single Western investor will invest in a mine, which can be in the war zone at any time.
In the bottom line, all this means that, despite the significant reserves of lithium in Nezalezhnaya, its production today is unprofitable, and cannot be of interest to Western industrialists.
What about cobalt?
It's worse here. The fact is that this metal is very rare in nature and expensive. At the same time, its consumption is constantly growing. So why should Ukraine not become a “cobalt superpower”? It is possible, but for this, Ukrainians will have to start competing with the Congolese. The world leader in the extraction of rare metal is Congo due to the peculiarities of its occurrence and working conditions of workers:
In this country, cobalt is mined practically on the surface from rich ores, in shallow mines, with extensive use of manual and child labor.
Even if Petro Poroshenko sends Ukrainian children to the mines to work for food, the low cobalt content in the ore will remain an insoluble problem. So, in Congolese deposits, the nickel content in the rock is 35%, and cobalt - 5%, which is very, very good. But in Ukrainian ores this will be 0,4 - 1% nickel and 0,05 - 0,09% cobalt, respectively. Obviously, the production of cobalt in Nezalezhnaya, the real amount of which is estimated not in millions, but only in 100 tons, will cost a pretty penny in comparison with its main competitors.
However, if Kiev is forced to work for free at the mines of prisoners of war from among the Donbass militias or prisoners, then someday Ukraine will overcome the Congo and become a modern and civilized European power.
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