Ukraine on Thursday awarded a bid to mine a major state-owned lithium deposit to investors that include a billionaire friend of President Trump, as his administration has indicated it is looking for investment opportunities in the war-torn country.
The decision was made by a Ukrainian government commission, according to two commission members who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the vote. While it still requires formal approval from Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers, the officials said the deal was essentially sealed.
The winning consortium is closely connected to the Trump administration. It includes Ronald S. Lauder, a cosmetics heir who has known Mr. Trump since college and planted the idea in his mind of buying resource-rich Greenland. The other investor is TechMet, an energy firm partly owned by a U.S. government investment agency created during Mr. Trump’s first term.
The two commission members said the winning consortium outpaced competitors by meeting most bidding criteria, dismissing any suggestion of favoritism. Still, by cultivating ties with investors connected to Mr. Trump and his administration, Kyiv is positioning itself favorably with the American leader just as it seeks its backing in peace talks with Russia, building on efforts to appeal to his business-oriented mind-set.
A representative for Mr. Lauder and TechMet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since Mr. Trump returned to power, the U.S.-Ukrainian alliance has taken on a mercantile character, with Washington halting most military aid to Kyiv and focusing instead on opportunities to profit from investments and weapons sales. Ukrainian officials have adapted, offering potentially lucrative deals in mineral extraction and weapons production.
The transactional nature of the new U.S.-Ukraine relationship is evident in a draft peace plan under negotiation between Kyiv and Washington. The plan includes provisions about a postwar reconstruction plan that President Volodymyr Zelensky has valued at $800 billion and that he has said would create opportunities for American businesses.
“There’s a lot of wealth to be had,” Mr. Trump said last month, as he welcomed Mr. Zelensky to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for another round of negotiations.
The Ukrainian government has also signaled an openness to deeper business cooperation with American companies in subtler ways. Last month, it appointed Patrick Fragman, the former CEO of Westinghouse, a major U.S. nuclear technology company, to the supervisory board of its state-owned nuclear giant, Energoatom. In his Westinghouse role, Mr. Fragman had expanded that company’s ties with Energoatom.
Several Ukrainian officials and business figures acknowledged that the appointment could pose a conflict of interest. But they said it was likely meant as a signal to the Trump administration that Kyiv is eager to cooperate — particularly if it can advance a peace deal. Mr. Trump has proposed that the United States be involved in the management of a major Ukrainian nuclear plant currently under Russia’s control as part of a peace settlement.
The area that has drawn the most interest from Mr. Trump is Ukraine’s mineral wealth. Last spring, Kyiv signed a deal granting the United States a stake in its mineral resources, a move that was widely seen as an effort by Kyiv to lock in American support through business ties.
The agreement created a joint U.S.-Ukraine fund to invest in future natural resource projects. Ukrainian officials have since sought to show they can deliver results and pitched the lithium field that was ultimately awarded to Mr. Lauder and TechMet as a potential pilot project under the deal.
The deposit, known as the Dobra lithium field, in central Ukraine, is one of the country’s largest reserves of lithium, a key component for technologies such as electric batteries. It will be developed under a production-sharing contract that allows investors to extract minerals in exchange for sharing output with the Ukrainian government.
Under the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, half of the revenue the Ukrainian government receives from the Dobra lithium field will be directed to the joint investment fund. The deal also states that a company seeking to develop a mineral site and needing additional investors must first present its project to the fund — a mechanism designed to favor American business interests.
In the case of the Dobra lithium field, that may raise potential conflicts of interest as the U.S. agency overseeing the fund, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, also holds a stake in TechMet.
It remains unclear how much Mr. Lauder and TechMet have committed to invest in developing the Dobra lithium field. The tender set a minimum investment of $179 million, but a member of the commission that voted on Thursday said the consortium’s pledge was significantly higher.
The investment, however, will take years to translate into actual mining and profits. The consortium must first carry out a geological survey to determine the field’s true subsoil value and then finance the equipment and infrastructure needed for extraction. Industry experts say it typically takes about 15 years to move from a viable discovery to extraction — a timeline that would extend well beyond Mr. Trump’s current term in office.
Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people.
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