Irshansk, Ukraine
CNN
—
The extractor’s part-rusting mechanical arm winds out over the frozen ground, over a sprawling lunar landscape of unnatural colors. The mining of titanium has a greater urgency than ever, here in Irshansk.
The electricity that powers the vast machines is only sometimes on for three hours a day. But resources like titanium are potentially key to the moonshot rare earth minerals deal that is suddenly the focus of talking peace in Ukraine. The deal’s signatories, the United States and Ukraine, appear to have opposing interpretations of its terms, which leave many thorny details for a later discussion.
