The giant excavator working in a quarry near the central Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr rarely stops collecting, removing the soil and a valuable titanium ore 24 hours a day.
“Ukraine has about 20 percent of world titanium reserves,” said CBC News, operating manager Dmytro Holik, when the excavator's noise relaxed in the distance.
“I am very interested that Ukraine can become a global or European titan center.”
At this point, Holik and US President Donald Trump would seem to share a common plane.
After painful – and often public – negotiations between American and Ukrainian officials, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has to Washington on Friday to formally sign the Pact of Natural Resources with Trump.
However, the Ukrainian leader sounds rather vague about what he and Trump agreed exactly.
“This agreement may be a great success or may pass quietly,” Zelenskyy told journalists in Kiev on Wednesday. “Great success depends on our conversation with President Trump.”
In detail about the minerals of Ukraine-Us still dark, CBC News visits pages in Ukraine, which produce titanium and graphite-two critical minerals, which the country hopes to mention more American help in the war with Russia.
The basic outline of the contract calls Ukraine to place money from future natural resources projects in Ukraine in an investment fund that would control both the US and Ukraine. In return, Zelenskyy wants Trump to offer his country's security guarantees after the war with Russia.
But it seems that Trump has other ideas. This week, he told journalists in the Oval Office that he did not intend to offer any guarantees – even when he advertised the financial benefits of minerals.
“We were able to conclude a contract in which we will recover our money,” Trump said, referring to $ 120 billion in military and financial assistance, which Biden administration provided Ukraine from Russia's full invasion in February 2022.
As Zelensky emphasized, Congress allocation for Ukraine was not in fact a loan.
Strong, thick, lightweight
The Titanium object in Zhytomyr is served by the Ukrainian group of DF conglomerates and has been operating since 2011. While many titanium in the world is used in the creation of steel, the gray -shaped shady red is intended for other end products – electronics, engineering and as a whiteblush bleach.
The strength and density of titanium, along with its slight weight, makes it extremely valuable. The element is on the American list of the minerals considered critical for his economy.
Ukraine has had a titanium industry since Soviet times, but Holik claims that he was struggling with a lack of investment and an unstable political situation.
“The more developed the industry is, the lower the cost of production,” he said. “If one entrepreneur deals with titanium, for example, bringing spare parts from abroad or bringing new equipment from abroad, logistics and costs will be very high. If it is made by two entrepreneurs, (or) three, four, five, it becomes a hub. “
That is why Holik says that Trump's mineral pact can attract investors and arouse interest, even if the RAM details still require extension.
Strategic partner
Andreii Loktiev, a geologist with a doctorate and extensive experience in the private sector in Ukraine, claims that it would be significant to have the United States as a strategic partner in the development of Ukrainian minerals.
“It's about access to technology here in Ukraine, because we do not have … the right technologies to develop these (mineral) fields,” he said.
The government of Ukraine estimates to five percent of critical minerals in the world – including titanium, graphite, lithium and beryl – you can find in this country.
But if Trump or Zelensky are looking for a quick return of their pact, they are disappointed, says Loktiev, who served as infantry in the Ukrainian army during the first 18 months of the war with Russia.
“The fastest way (forward) for the new project is from three to five years – and (if) you will be ready to press very quickly,” he said.
Loktiev and others in the industry argue that the war itself remains the greatest obstacle in unlocking underground wealth in Ukraine.
Another critical mineral
Another critical mineral, graphite, is in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, from car parts to pencils.
CBC News visited a graphite operation about 200 kilometers south of KIV, in the Kirovohrad region.
Like the Titan, the green ore is dug in a quarry, separated and processed in a nearby object. But unlike the titanium operation, which works constantly, this object barely came out of two weeks of graphite processing in 2024.
“Unfortunately, because of the war (owners), they have no possibility and possibilities of investing more money,” said Ostap Kostyuk, general director of Zavalivsky Graphit, who has a 30 % share in the operation. The rest is the property of Australian Mining Volt.
The graphite operation in Kirovohrad is also very old. Some machines used to separate and grind ore were installed in the 1960s, when the mine employed thousands of employees.
Kostyuk said that 850 tons of graphite, which he produced last year, was just a fraction of its capacity of 13,500 tons. But without investing in the modernization of equipment, training new employees and developing new markets, the future of the mine is limited, even though it has decades.
“I think that the first step is access to (global) companies that will come to Ukraine and open their own mines, and then we will see changes,” he said.
But Kostyuk insisted that “they had to pay for it.” He said that all moves to give American companies tax or licensing status would be contradictory not only by the mining industry in the country, but most Ukrainians.
He says that if Trump minerals act as a catalyst for the end of the war, it will be worth the West. But it's too early to know.
“I hope that it will give us new opportunities, but I don't think Trump knows what it will give us, and I don't think Zelenskyy knows what it will give us.”
Suspicions remain
Many Ukrainians are suspicious of the intentions of the US President.
CBC News met a group of war veterans at an event to raise funds in Kiev, because the Ukrainian government was preparing to approve the mineral agreement.
Everyone lost their limbs in the current conflict.
“I don't think there is a reason to give Americans all natural resources,” said Bogdan Kovbasyuk, a 27-year-old whose left leg was blown when a Russian missile hit his front position in the eastern region of Donbass.
“I don't trust them, taking into account Putin's propaganda,” he said.
Trump said that he believes that the Russian president wants peace and end a war, a concept that most Ukrainians mock.
“I think that America has not deserved to be the right to get as many natural resources as they want,” said 50-year-old David Jung, who lost his leg when the Russian anti-tank missile hit his vehicle, turning him and pinned him under him.
“There must be a proper balance – they not only give us weapons.”