The Shevchenko Lithium Ore Field in Donbas is laden with an estimated 13.8 million tons of lithium ores with a pure lithium oxide content of up to 207,000 tons, according to a 2018 Ukrainian State Geology and Subsoil Service study.

The deposit is said to be the largest not only in Ukraine, but all of Europe. Besides lithium, the field also contains tantalum, niobium and beryl.

Australian-registered, British businessman-owned mining company European Lithium announced in late 2021 that it was in the process of “securing” the Shevchenko field for itself.

In January 2024, the company said that it had been granted a 20-year special mining permit for the site, and that the work would begin once the approval of  the shareholders is obtained.

The Shevchenko deposit’s loss is a major blow to the European Union’s lithium needs, and its rare earth mineral needs in general.

A 2020 European Commission report estimated that the bloc would need up to 18 times more lithium for its ‘green transition’ projects by 2030, and 60 times more by 2050.

Shevchenko’s liberation is one more blow to Brussels’ already existing self-inflicted recession and deindustrialization crisis – triggered by the loss of cheap and dependable Russian energy, which have made the EU’s industrial output increasingly uncompetitive against the US and China. Russia warned this would happen all the way back in the spring of 2022.

Good Luck to Europe who constantly depend on the US to decide their foreign, industrial and economic policies.@PMOIndia @DrSJaishankar @adgpi