Sharmine Narwani reposted DaiWW @BeijingDai
China has banned the export of metallic antimony.
Antimony is a key material with many military applications, such as high explosives, missile propellants, and infrared guidance. The antimony required by the US military industry is mainly imported from China. In terms of civilian use, antimony is still one of the key raw materials for photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic glass.
China's restrictions on antimony exports will not only hit the US military industry, but also make the Western photovoltaic industry even more hopeless.
At present, China holds 32% of antimony reserves, but 80% of production. In addition, Bolivia and Russia also have relatively large antimony reserves. Of course, the United States can find antimony reserves in other countries, but establishing production lines requires time and technology, and is not an easy task.
BTW: China has banned the export of gallium and germanium for over a year. How is the progress of production lines for these two metals in the United States? any update? how about rare earths production line?