One of Ukraine’s largest lithium deposits – “Dobra”, containing strategic mineral reserves worth billions of dollars – has been handed over for just $179 million.
At the end of the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Ukrainian officials put one of the country’s most promising lithium deposits, “Dobra”, up for tender.
The winner of the competition was Dobra Lithium.
According to Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, the company belongs to the American consortium TechMet and The Rock Holdings, and the investment volume will be $179 million.
However, the companies are represented in Ukraine by Volodymyr Ignashchenko – a former official from the era of ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, who has been linked to schemes involving mineral resources.
Another participant in the competition – European Lithium, representing the American-Australian mining group Critical Metals, which specializes in the extraction and processing of rare-earth elements – offered significantly larger investments of more than $1.5 billion.
How fair was the tender? Why did the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers choose a significantly weaker company for one of the country’s most promising lithium deposits?
And to whom did government officials actually sell Dobra – mineral area where Ukraine’s main lithium reserves are concentrated?
First, a few words about the Dobra deposit
In the summer of 2025, Ukraine removed the “Secret” classification from a number of mineral resources, including critical minerals. However, detailed information about them is still not publicly available as the data is currently being digitized.
Geological exploration conducted between 1989 and 2001 shows that “Dobra” is one of the largest lithium deposits in Ukraine. According to the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine, the deposit contains nearly 1.3 million tonnes of lithium ore.
Lithium is used in the production of batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and laptops, as well as in nuclear energy. The Dobra deposit may also contain other valuable metals.
Dobra Lithium Holdings proposal
The full details of the company’s proposal for Ukraine have not been publicly disclosed.
Speaking about Dobra Lithium’s $179 million investment, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko stated that $167 million would be invested in mining, and $12 million would go toward geological exploration and international audit. However, she did not specify how much of the investment would be directed toward processing the critically important metal.
Therefore, it can be assumed that the government may be counting only investments at the stage of geological exploration and organizing mining, without considering processing.
Even at those stages, however, it has not been proven that Dobra Lithium’s investments exceed that of European Lithium (more than $1.5 billion).
Government officials also emphasized that the shareholders of Dobra Lithium are “well-known companies on the international market – TechMet and The Rock Holdings,” and the sole beneficiary of The Rock Holdings is the American businessman and philanthropist Ronald S. Lauder.
It is known that TechMet was created during the first administration of Donald Trump, and one of its shareholders is the Development Finance Corporation. Some Ukrainian media have spread false information, claiming that TechMet “is already mining, processing and refining critical minerals across nine projects, including three lithium projects in the United States, the United Kingdom and Rwanda.”
However, a simple check of the TechMet website shows that the projects in the United States and the United Kingdom are not yet active. The US project plans its first mining in the second half of 2028, while the UK project is scheduled for 2029. As for the project in Rwanda, it refers to an old mine that has been purchased (over 70 years of mining). Moreover, there is no lithium extraction at that mine – only tin and tungsten are mined there.
In other words, TechMet has no experience in building new mines for lithium extraction.
As for The Rock Holdings and its sole beneficiary Ronald S. Lauder, it is known that he is a friend of US President Donald Trump. The two have known each other since their college years. Since 2016, Lauder has donated more than $1.6 million to organizations supporting Trump.
In the summer of 2025, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, TechMet and The Rock Holdings were represented by Deputy Minister of Economy Volodymyr Ignashchenko.
Ukrainian media mainly mention him as a “scandalous expert”. Ignashchenko worked in the government of former president Viktor Yanukovych, working as First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection.
Volodymyr Ignashchenko became widely known in Ukraine when he inserted an intermediary company linked to Yanukovych’s son into the Shell–Ukraine contract. Shell lost $100 million that time. Ignashchenko has also been associated with schemes involving mineral resources.
Zelenskyy and Svyrydenko met with representatives of American business in Ukraine, where TechMet and The Rock Holdings were represented by Ignashchenko / Credit: Ukraine Presidential Press Service
Why would American companies choose a representative from the inner circle of the fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych? Or is it possible that TechMet and The Rock Holdings are unaware that Ignashchenko represents them in Ukraine?
Unfortunately, Ronald S. Lauder has not commented on this issue, nor on the agreement with the Ukrainian government regarding lithium extraction from a deposit containing strategic mineral reserves worth billions of dollars. TechMet, apart from stating that Ukraine is of interest to the company, has also provided no comments regarding its mining plans for the deposit.
European lithium proposal
On January 15, 2026, Critical Metals announced that the total investment volume proposed by European Lithium is $1.512 billion.
Critical Metals specializes in the extraction and processing of rare-earth elements. The company has active projects in Europe, Austria, Ireland and Greenland, and is also building two processing plants in Saudi Arabia. In addition, Critical Metals has a nine-year lithium supply contract with BMW worth approximately €2 billion. The company’s shares are traded on NASDAQ.
In an interview with Ukrainian journalists, Tony Sage, Executive Chairman of European Lithium and CEO of Critical Metals, said he was surprised by the government’s decision regarding the winner of the tender, noting that the company believes it “offered Ukraine better conditions – both in terms of investment volume and the depth of processing”.
He added that the company intends to defend its interests in Ukrainian and international courts:
“First, we believe we hold the license for the Dobra deposit, and this has been confirmed by decisions of Ukrainian courts. We informed the Cabinet of Ministers of this fact before the tender began and again proposed to resolve the disputed issue through negotiations”.
Russia already controls two of Ukraine’s four lithium deposits – Shevchenkivske (Donetsk region) and Kruta Balka (Zaporizhzhia region) / Credit: Getty Images
Ukraine has not yet signed an agreement with the winner of the tender – Dobra Lithium.
The Ukrainian government publicly describes the deal as a “pilot investment project.” At the same time, it has not explained to the Ukrainian people – who, according to Article 13 of the Constitution, own all of Ukraine’s subsoil resources – the reasons for such a significant undervaluation of the lithium deposit.
Nor has it explained the lack of transparency surrounding the tender, where government officials even refused to allow journalists to be present during the opening of the bids submitted by the participants. The proposal submitted by the winning bidder has still not been publicly disclosed. In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers has not explained why it selected a company that is significantly weaker in terms of investment volume, experience and reputation.
The question of the transparency of the winner of the competition also remains open. TechMet and The Rock Holdings are private companies, and information about them is not publicly available. Nothing is known about The Rock Holdings, and the company does not appear to operate in the mining sector.
After the announcement of the winner, the Prime Minister stated that “the deposit remains the property of the people of Ukraine”. In fact, one of the largest lithium deposits in Ukraine – containing strategic mineral reserves worth billions of dollars – has effectively been handed over by the Cabinet of Ministers to Volodymyr Ignashchenko, an official from the era of former president Viktor Yanukovych. At the same time, Ronald S. Lauder has not commented on these issues, leaving it unclear whether Ignashchenko actually has the authority to represent TechMet and The Rock Holdings.
By focusing on the sole beneficiary of The Rock Holdings in the Dobra lithium mining deal, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine appears to be masking its own lack of professionalism and experience by referring to Ronald S. Lauder’s connections to US President Trump’s team. Unfortunately, the lack of proper institutional infrastructure has once again opened the door for figures such as Ignashchenko.
Ukrainian officials now face potential lawsuits from the American-Australian mining company Critical Metals, which believes that the tender was unfair and that its proposal was significantly better for Ukraine.
Leave a Comment