March summary: Trump, Ukrainian minerals and WFH

At the end of last month I was in Denver for MINEXCHANGE 2025. Now I am in Cape Town, for Comminution '25. In between. much has happened.

The beginning of the month was dominated by the shameless bullying in the Oval Office of President Zelensky of Ukraine by President Donald Trump and his sycophantic Vice-President JD Vance. In front of the world's media Trump and Vance ganged up on the man who has led three years of war effort, his crime, according to Vance, being that he had not said thank you enough, despite having endlessly thanked allies for their support. Declaring that this was good TV, Trump then had the brave Zelensky ejected from the White House like one of the contestants from the TV reality show The Apprentice, which Trump hosted for the first 14 seasons. At the start of the war, Zelensky stayed in Kyiv when Russian forces were closing in and the city was under bombardment. Tough guy Vance, by contrast, chose to move to a secure location when confronted with a few protesters on a skiing trip the day after the White House confrontation.

Four days after the disgraceful episode the deplorable Trump paused all military aid to Ukraine, leaving the West vulnerable to Putin's potential advances. The suspension of American military aid, and also intelligence, was one of the worst setbacks for Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, and a huge boost to Russia's chances.

Two weeks later, after a USA-Ukraine summit in Saudi Arabia, Trump reversed his decision and allowed military aid and intelligence to resume. The original White House meeting was supposed to announce an agreement under which Ukraine would provide US companies with access to critical minerals deposits in exchange for military aid. In describing the proposed deal, Trump quickly zeroed in on the rare earths, for which the US has for years been spending billions of dollars in an attempt to secure stable supplies. China dominates production of numerous critical metals and minerals, but none so completely as the rare earths, a group of 17 elements that aren’t actually that rare but are extremely difficult and expensive to extract and separate. 

The real challenge with rare earths is in their processing, which is a complex, energy-intensive process, using mainly fossil fuels and causing much pollution, occasionally producing radioactive waste. More than 95% of industrially useful rare-earth metals are produced by China, and whole communities have been affected by the processing and the waste produced. Hidden out of sight behind smoke-shrouded factory complexes lie vast, hissing cauldrons of chemicals in tailings lakes that are often very poorly constructed and maintained. Throughout the extraction process large amounts of highly toxic acids, heavy metals and other chemicals are emitted into the air that people breathe, and leak into surface and ground water.

However there are no deposits of rare-earth ore in Ukraine known to be mineable in an economically viable way, and that would be true even if full-scale warfare were not raging in the country’s east, where a great deal of its mineral resources are concentrated. It would take years to get projects off the ground, possibly much more than a decade.   

Ukraine does have other valuable commodities that are not rare earth elements but the US still identifies as critical, such as graphite and titanium.  Ukraine has some of Europe’s largest deposits of critical minerals, including lithium and titanium, much of which is untapped so that turning Ukraine's reserves of lithium and other critical minerals  into operating mines and constructing processing facilities is a mammoth undertaking, and companies would have to invest huge sums, likely a billion dollars or more, to develop critical minerals and rare-earths mines in Ukraine. 

Ukraine's mineral resources haven't been mapped since the Soviet era but it could be the largest lithium resource in Europe and Ukraine's reserves of graphite, a key component in electric vehicle batteries and nuclear reactors, are estimated to represent 20% of global resources. 

But it is unclear what kind of security guarantees companies would require to risk working in Ukraine, even in the event of a ceasefire. And no one knows for sure what kind of financing agreements would underpin contracts between Ukraine and US companies. Mining also requires a robust electricity infrastructure and it is not really a competitor given the state of the country's infrastructure and being a huge security risk. A phone call between Trump and Putin on the 18th of the month led to an agreed 30 day halt to strikes on Ukraine energy targets but immediately after the call mutual strikes on Ukrainian and Russian infrastructure targets continued. The end to this war is a long way off.

Trump's imposition of universal tariffs is also causing much concern, with worldwide condemnation, and the UK is pushing for a trade deal with the US as tariffs imposed on imports of steel and aluminium take effect.The tariffs mean US businesses wanting to bring steel and aluminium into the country will have to pay a 25% tax on them. Trump hopes the tariffs will boost US steel and aluminium production, but critics say it will raise prices for US consumers and dent economic growth. Critical metals such as nickel, cobalt, and platinum-group elements are also indispensable to the US economy, yet the country is overwhelmingly reliant on imports, often from nations it is now targeting with trade restrictions and US markets sunk mid-month in response to recession fears.

I feel for my American friends at the collapse of respect for their country since the narcissistic Trump ascended the throne. It is telling that the Financial Times reports a record number of Americans applying for British citizenship! 

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Due to atrocious weather Barbara and I missed the last day of the International Mining Games which were held last weekend at the King Edward Mine (KEM) museum in Camborne. The Games were first held at KEM in 2012 and 2018 when teams from Australia, Brazil, USA and Europe were welcomed.

The Camborne School of Mines team competing in the games in 2018

This year there were teams from Australia (WA, Queensland, NSW), USA (Missouri, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Colorado, South Dakota), Canada (British Columbia), Germany (Freiberg, Bochum).  Belgium (Mons) also sent students to volunteer and learn for future participation. There were many local Cornish teams including four from Camborne School of Mines and KEM's own young team of volunteers.  Many congratulations to the Camborne School of Mines, the winners of both the men's and women's competitions.

The primary aim of the competition is to keep the "old-fashioned" mining techniques alive, many of which were developed in Cornwall. In many villages in the 20th century, men could be seem competing in hand-steeling competitions, as in the photo below, taken at KEM in 1910.

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Changing the subject completely, what are your views on working from home (WFH)? The Covid pandemic forced office workers to work from home, and this became an accepted new way of life for many. But after the pandemic the Conservative government set an expectation that civil servants spend at least 60% of their working week at a government building or on official business. The Labour government has maintained this expectation due to the “clear benefits of face-to-face working”. 

However, some civil servants have raised concerns about the 60% office attendance mandate. A recent report from the FDA,the trade union representing professionals and managers in public service, showed that 78% of respondents believe the 60% mandate overall has not been beneficial, failing to deliver on any of its own objectives to boost productivity, improve collaboration, and help younger workers.

I have been WFH now for 29 years, and love it. Amanda and Jon, my MEI partners, also thrive on WFH, devoid of rigid 9 to 5 hours of working and long journeys to and from an office.

I live in Falmouth and work each morning until lunch time, after which I walk the coastal path or cycle. Amanda lives 4 miles away in the little village of Mabe, and works in between gig-rowing, walking her two dogs and looking after her two sons, who live at home. She is a great traveller and finds time to work even in remote locations.

Jon lives in Luxembourg. his partner Kathryn working at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology.  Jon works when he is not taking the children to and from school, cycling or presenting his weekly 15 minute music update on ARA City Radio Luxembourg. So successful has this been that this month he began a fortnightly 3-hour slot, talking about and playing music.

WFH works very well for us, and we keep in touch daily via email and WhatsApp. It would be good to hear of your experiences with WFH.

But we don't work totally from home of course. Barbara and I are now at the Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town. Jon and Amanda join us tomorrow in time to welcome delegates to Comminution '25 on Sunday. There will be daily updates on the blog next week.

Arriving in Cape Town 2 hours ago