W Time seems to be standing still. Only a fistful of people live here, homes are empty and destroyed, and stubbles go all the way to the horizon. It is no different in the neighbouring village of Kopanki, where there is almost nothing but abandoned houses. According to a fewer villagers, only 1 kid was born here throughout 2024.
– I started working here in 1976 – says Volodymyr pensioner in Kopanki. – I was the 400th worker of the collective farm, and now most likely not even 100 inhabitants stay here. There's only funerals, there's no weddings, nothing's like it utilized to be. People left Kopanki due to the fact that they didn't have a occupation anymore. Today, the bus only runs here twice a week.
It is improbable that Donald Trump has always heard of Polochow or Kopanki. Yet it seems that this area is very curious in the president of the United States – or alternatively what is underground. Here, in the center of central Ukraine, is 1 of the largest deposits of lithium in the country.
Waiting for a natural material deal
These deposits could become part of the alleged natural material agreement between Ukraine and the US. The first effort to finalise this agreement in February failed and so far both parties have not been able to agree on the final version of the agreement. However, the government in Kiev sent a squad to Washington to proceed negotiations, late informed on the X Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Julia Swyridenko.
The existence of lithium deposits in Ukraine has been known since the 1970s. However, the deposits under Polochivka and Kopanki are the only ones that have already been tested according to today's standards. All another deposits come from russian times. However, the lithium ore was never mined in Ukraine.
Unused deposits
In 2017, the Ukrainian company UkrLithiumMining was granted approval to land the Połochiwka deposit. Since the last survey conducted between 2018 and 2020, the deposits have been considered the largest in Europe with an estimated 40 million tonnes of lithium.
The manager of Mikhaylo Hejchenko said on Ukrainian tv that the first test drilling, any of which scope over 600 metres deep into the ground, allows to anticipate extraction of up to 1.5 million tons of ore per year for 20 years. However, the company has not yet gone further, as according to Smoline Municipality no work is presently being carried out on site.
Local authorities are afraid about the deficiency of advancement in implementing the extraction plans. Already in 2023, members of the agrarian Council considered the UkrLithiumMining approach unsatisfactory. Smoline Village Council wants the company to undertake more intensive work here. “We besides asked the company to discuss social issues that are crucial to the community. But so far nothing has happened – says Smoline Municipality mayor Mikola Mazura.
A message published in March on the company's website stated that Połochiwka's deposits belong to the Ukrainian people, but the company received a licence to operate it and paid for it an equivalent of about €2.6 million.
Environmental concerns
Meanwhile, local residents with whom the DW spoke inactive hope for fresh jobs by extracting lithium in the future. At the same time, any fear the environmental consequences. “We are not against it,” says Tetiana from the village of Kopanki. – But we must make certain that we are not without water and roads and that our infrastructure will be expanded. Of course, we want this to happen rapidly and for money to flow into the municipal budget.
Fears that water may run out, is besides shared by the mayor of Smoline Municipality Mikola Mazura. “We have late learned that UkrLithiumMining wants to drill wells of different depths and usage water from them for its own purposes. It would be a disaster, due to the fact that within a fewer kilometers they could dry the wells of the surrounding inhabitants. Waters in wells are already beginning to run out due to climate change and another factors, and the ponds besides dry out – complains.
UkrLithiumMining already referred to its website in the fall of 2024 to the possible environmental consequences. The company investigated the impact of the exploitation of the deposit. After the publication of this article on the Ukrainian DW website, UkrLithiumMining sent an email stating that if the Połochiwka deposit is exploited, water extraction for method purposes will “not affect the sources utilized by the community”. In consequence to the accusation of delaying work, the company stated: “In April 2024, the company completed a preliminary feasibility study, which was an crucial phase in the exploitation of the deposit. Another crucial phase is presently being prepared – a final feasibility study".
First projects under the natural material contract?
To date, a full of 4 lithium deposits have been examined in Ukraine. 2 of them are located in territories occupied by Russia: Krut-Balka deposits in the Zaporozhia region and Shevchenko deposits in the Donetsk region. 2 others are located in central Ukraine – 1 close Połochiwka and the another close Good. The second is considered even more promising. According to Ukrainian geologist Bohdan Słobodian, it was studied in russian times and it may be twice as large as it was in Połochiwiec. However, there is no current investigation on this subject.
In early March, "Financial Times" reported that the Irish company TechMet is curious in developing the Good deposit and wants to tender. TechMet's partner is billionaire Ronald Lauder, friend of U.S. president Donald Trump. According to the journal, this may be 1 of the first projects under the U.S.-Ukraine natural material agreement if it is signed. The planned extraction of lithium in Polochivka may besides begin.
