PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT OF LITHIUM RESOURCE BASE IN UKRAINE

. Rare metals are an important component of Ukraine's resource base. According to preliminary estimates, the overall lithium resource potential in Ukraine is quite high. The main lithium deposits are associated with Proterozoic complexes (1,7–2,1 billion years) of alkaline rocks, carbonate and granite pegmatites. Significant lithium reserves have been discovered at the Shevchenkivske, Polokhivske, Stankuvatske deposits and Dobra, Kruta Balka promising areas. The estimation of lithium oxide reserves is close to 500,000 tons, but none of lithium deposits in Ukraine are not mining yet. Most of lithium deposits are complex that is why even medium and small deposits can be attractive for investment, having well-developed infrastructure and the presence of mining and processing enterprises within the Ukrainian Shield (US).

The strategic resources such as coal, oil and uranium, which were demanded, are in the past. Nowadays lithium is on the first charts of demanded resources.
Lithium has been known since the late 1940s. It was used for the ceramics and glass production, used in metallurgy, medicine and petrochemistry. However, only when mobile electronics has been invented and manufactures start to replace gasoline engines with electric demand for the lithium has raised.
The projection of increasing demand for the lithium is up to 250 %, which equals 2,5 times. [6] Netherlands is planning to stop production of gasoline and diesel cars by the year of 2030. France and Germany plan to do so by the year of 2040, Britain, India and China have the same plans in the nearest future. [6].

SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION «INTERCONF» | № 99 653
There is no lithium in the pure form; you can only find it in combination with other minerals.
Most of the lithium (billions of tons) contains in the seawater. Also there is a lot of metal lithium contains in the earth bowels.
The following types of lithium raw materials on the world market represent by: Ukraine has a powerful mineral resource base and have a big chance to become one of the main lithium producers in the world. Therefore, our research has a big impact for the strengthening worldwide mineral resources base of rare metals in Ukraine. The main goal is to study the patterns of formation, features of the material composition and assess the prospects of rare metal pegmatite deposits. Industrial significant of lithium deposits of Ukraine are located in the Donbass region (Naholnyi ore district) and within the Ukrainian Shield. The main objectives of the study are to investigate the current state of geological situation and rare metal metallogeny of ore zones of Ukraine and to clarify the complex of geological and geophysical data and structural position for major rare metal structures, ore fields and deposits of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Shield is a large and main rare metal province, occupies over 40% of the Ukrainian territory. There are 22 rare metal formations, which formed in connection with the Early Proterozoic mobile belts, and the Late Proterozoic superimposed zones of tectonic-magmatic and tectonic-metasomatic activation.
Granitic and alkaline magmatism, pegmatite formation and metasomatic processes took a part in these zones. The endogenous deposits associated with acidic granite magma are characterized by high lithium concentrations.
There are three largest areas of lithium ores in Ukraine: Polokhivska, Shevchenkivska and Stankuvatska. They are located within the Ukrainian Shield, which belongs to a unique rare metal province (Fig. 1.) [5].  Most of the lithium is associated with spodumene and to a lesser extent (3,7% of the total content) with petalite [4]. The total yield of concentrate is 22,8%. The average content of lithium oxide in the concentrate is 4,9%. This concentrate corresponds to the grade C 1 . According to the scale of ore mining and the quality of ores, Shevchenkivske deposit can be considered as primary object for the formation of the lithium industry of Ukraine.
Stankuvatske deposit of spodumene-petalite ores can now be considered as a reserve object, given that the ores contain two lithium minerals. This complicates the enrichment technology (obtaining selective spodumene and petalite concentrates). This deposit is currently in need of geological investigations and in terms of lithium resources corresponds to a large industrial deposit, however, it is poorly studied, which is caused by economic risks. Stankuvatske region, in addition to petalite ores, is rich in other useful minerals, but this will require a development of new enrichment technologies.

Conclusions
Given the high potential of Ukraine's mineral resource base, it is necessary, among the most important strategic tasks, to renew rare metal and rare earth industries. In Ukraine, the overall resource potential for lithium is quite high. There are pegmatite deposits that have been studied at different levels: Shevchenkivske (spodumene ores), Polokhivske (petalite ores), Stankuvatske (spodumene-petalite ores), Balka Kruta (complex rare metal ores), as well as numerous ore occurrences of this type. Lithium is also currently studied in mica minerals that have a content of lithium oxide in the range of 0,2-0,6% and form a large accumulation in the Donbass.
According to the proven reserves and prospected resources of lithium, Ukraine can be considered as the richest country in Europe. Ukraine can fully meet its own needs, as well as supply lithium raw materials to the Western European market.
Shevchenkivske deposit of spodumene ores can be considered as the most attractive one in terms of current conditions and trends in global and Western European markets for lithium raw materials. There are high expectations for the discovery of new lithium deposits on the territory of the Ukrainian Shield associated with carbonatites, subalkaline and alkaline complexes, which should be the task of further research. Therefore, it is necessary to develop regional and local forecasting and search criteria, based on which to assess the prospects of the Ukrainian territory and determine the main directions of further research in the search for lithium.