Geopolitics

Geopolitics is an important factor which influences supply, demand and pricing for the commodities which MEU has discovered in its tenements, so I thought that a thread could be a useful way of capturing this information.

Recently there was a proposal that the US would develop minerals in partnership with Ukraine - these would have potentially included titanium, uranium and rare earths, which presumably would have had a downward impact on pricing.

Ukraine had indicated that they might be receptive to the idea in exchange for security guarantees, so there was some possibility that this could come about - although it is difficult to envision how exploration and development would realistically take place in a place that is currently a war zone, as well as how the US would actually ensure that they end up
reaping the benefits (over a long timeframe which may see the Democrats being voted back in and perhaps gifting it all back to Ukraine, as well as the temptation for other countries to invade and seize the lucrative mines, not to mention potential corruption and/or changes in government within Ukraine itself).

Anyway, based on the latest meeting between Trump (and JD Vance) and Zelenskyy, it would seem that the idea is firmly off the table, reducing the potential threat to pricing in the aforementioned commodities.

Incidentally, gold has been trending down over the past few days, potentially due to the perceived prospect of peace breaking out in Ukraine, but has started to rebound slightly perhaps due to early indications that the talks were not going as planned.

Please note that although this is a geopolitics thread, the intent is not to argue for one side or the other here, but rather to reflect dispassionately on the likely impact on the MEU valuation. Any thoughts or feedback would be welcome.