'We're getting to the fun' — Minerals deal to see first investments in 3-6 months
Ukrainian companies have submitted the first projects to the minerals deal fund, with initial investments expected to arrive in the next three to six months, said panelists at Ukraine House Davos’ "Partners in Prosperity" event during the World Economic Forum on Jan. 20.
Currently, the Ukrainian government, alongside the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and investment advisor Alvarez and Marsal, are analyzing the proposals and will choose the most impactful project this year, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev said.
The DFC launched a long-awaited online portal for companies to submit projects to the minerals deal, officially known as the U.S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, on Jan. 7. It followed a long period of relative silence after the deal's signing in April 2025, which some took as a sign that interest had petered out.
"Now we're getting to the fun things of making investments within Ukraine," said the DFC’s investment head, Connor Coleman.
"The past year was just more operationally getting focused."
So far, no projects have been selected. But Sobolev stressed that the fund will invest in the three "most important" projects this year, "to show it as a success."
The deal offers American and other foreign companies access to investment projects in Ukraine, with a focus on critical minerals, energy, infrastructure, and IT that support Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. For the first ten years, profits from the reconstruction investment fund will be fully reinvested in Ukraine’s economy.
The fund’s team reviewed potential opportunities last week during its first discussion with global consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal, appointed to the fund in November.
Initially, the fund will look at three types of investments: greenfield projects, brownfield merger and acquisition projects, and lastly growth and venture projects. But it’s flexible and could grow to cover more areas down the line, Coleman said.
Over the next couple of months, the first investment committee meeting will be held, with a prospecting committee meeting in late January or early February. Then, in the next three to six months, a wave of investments will come to Ukraine, not just via the fund, but from other investors too, Coleman expects.
"The sentiment in the United States government is one of excitement about the fund overall. We want to make this the flagship of this kind of reconstruction effort from the United States standpoint," Coleman said.
Among the interested parties is Ukraine’s state-owned oil and gas giant, Naftogaz. The company’s projects present a "huge opportunity" for the fund, ranging from small-scale $20 million investments to $2 billion over several years, CEO Serhii Koretskyi said during the panel discussion.
He pointed to Naftogaz’s massive underground gas storage facilities, the largest in Europe, as a potential opportunity. Half of Ukraine’s 31 billion cubic meters of storage space is open to foreign partners, including long-term or exclusive contracts with American firms, he added.
But the most important opportunity, he said, is the development of Ukraine’s vast 2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas resources, including Black Sea offshore resources. Last year alone, Naftogaz launched 140 new wells with a 92% success rate, but it needs to attract financing to do much more.
"We will be happy to start a very practical conversation right now to prepare everything so that as soon as war is over, we can start drilling," he said.
While there has been no confirmation on projects under the fund just yet, some speculate one will be the Dorba Lithium deposit, which was recently awarded to a firm backed by the DFC and a friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, Ronald S. Lauder.
The firm, Dobra Lithium Holdings, won a pilot production-sharing agreement with Kyiv on Jan. 13, and could seek funding through the fund in the future.
Other potential projects discussed during the panel include the Chornomorsk port, which is in the process of being privatized. With enough private capital, the port could unlock huge economic potential after a ceasefire, said Geoffrey Pyatt, senior managing director of the Energy and Critical Minerals Practice at McLarty Associates.
Additionally, Ukraine’s deposits of titanium, used in defense products, and graphite, used in batteries, also present opportunities to modernize and develop the country’s mining and extractive sector, he said.
"(The fund) is so important because it really puts Ukraine back on the map as a global destination," Pyatt said.
