Join us for a hybrid lunch in November

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2025 

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Talk Title: Revisiting the Geologic Resources of Ukraine

Speaker: John McLeod

The 2025 “minerals deal” between the U.S. and Ukraine rekindled interest in a subject I first presented online in 2022 in the earliest days of the Russian invasion. Ukraine is a country blessed with a diversity of geology and geologic resources. Its major geologic provinces include the Caucasus fold belt, the Lviv-Volyn basin, Ukrainian Sheild and its flanks, the Dnieper-Donets basin, the Donbas fold belt, and the Black Sea coastal plain and offshore shelf. Before the war, it was a major producer of iron ore and titanium, with a complementary steel industry in Mariupol (since destroyed). It had a sizable anthracite coal industry in Donbas, oil and gas production in the Caucuses, Lviv-Volyn, Dnieper-Donets and coastal plain (onshore and offshore), and served as an import conduit for Russian gas transported to Turkey and Western Europe. It produced other minerals like uranium, which served as feedstock for its significant domestic nuclear power industry. In exports, Ukraine is an agricultural “breadbasket” due to the presence of thick Quaternary chernozem soils. Over time, the interest in a deal for Ukraine geologic resources has shifted from rare earth elements to strategic minerals to just “minerals.”  The terms are perhaps deliberately vague (or flexible) and have yet to be implemented because of the ongoing conflict. 

Biography:

John McLeod is a geologist whose primary interests are new ventures exploration, petroleum systems analysis, geochemistry and paleontology. He held geologist positions with Mobil Oil, Oryx Energy, EOG Resources, Chesapeake Energy and SM Energy. Since late 2019, he has been an independent geoscientist involved in teaching (QGIS open source mapping), geological research (Ukraine, Oklahoma, Illinois), field geology and geochemistry. He co-lead the RMAG Eagle Basin field trip last year and is an occasional online contributor to LinkedIn. John holds an M.S. in Geology from Northern Illinois University.

Download Abstract and Bio

Hybrid luncheon schedule:

• 11:15am: In-person check-in opens
• 11:30: Lunch service begins
• 12:00pm: Online event opens
• 12:15pm: Talk begins
• 1:00pm: Talk/Q&A session ends; Online event closes

Hybrid Luncheon costs:

• Member Lunch: $35
• Non-Member Lunch: $40
• Walk-in without Lunch: $15
• Member Online: $10
• Non-member Online: $20
• Student online: Free

Refund policy:

If you need to cancel an in-person lunch registration for any reason, you must do so by 4:00pm on the Thursday before the Wednesday luncheon. Refunds will not be available after 4:00pm on the Thursday before the luncheon. If you are unable to attend, your luncheon registration is transferable to another RMAG member, or if you are a non-member your registration is transferable to whomever you wish. Refunds will not be issued for online talk registrations.

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