In 2024, Ukraine was among the world’s leading producers of several minerals despite the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict that began in February 2022. Ukraine was the 5th-ranked producer of bromine (2.5%, excluding the United States); the 6th-ranked producer of rutile (0.1%, tied with Mozambique); the 9th-ranked producer of ilmenite (3.1%) and iron ore (2.1%); and the 11th-ranked producer of peat (2.5%). Ukraine was also a significant world producer of graphite and lime. Other mineral commodities produced included ferroalloys, raw steel and steel products, uranium, and zirconium.
In Ukraine, manufacturing activities accounted for 8.4% of GDP, and mining and quarrying, for 4.0% of GDP in 2024; mining and quarrying constituted 7.8% of total industrial production. The value of exports of mineral products and metals made up 18.9% of the total value of the exports of goods. Ukraine’s major law regulating mining in the country is the Law on Subsoil of 1994. The State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine (GosGeoNadra) was responsible for implementing Government policy for geologic exploration and rational use of the subsoil. The majority of mineral industry companies were domestic and privately owned.
On December 18, Ukraine’s Parliament approved a renewed state program for development of mineral resources of Ukraine through 2030 (Bill No. 6227), which was one of the key requirements of the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act of 2024. Key priorities of the new program are the environment, transparency, and attraction of investment in development of strategic minerals. Bill No. 6227 assumed changes in the Ukraine’s Law on Subsoil and required Ukraine to switch to an internationally recognized system of resources and reserves from the old Soviet-style system. Specific minerals mentioned in the program as prospective for exploration and development were antimony, arsenic, bismuth, cesium, gallium, indium, magnesium, strontium, tellurium, and vanadium. Bill 6227 was considered an important step towards European standards in the area of subsoil use and was expected to increase Ukraine’s mining sector’s competitiveness and open new opportunities for foreign investment.
