Pentagon seeks to replenish rare earth reserves worth $1 billion — FT
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the Financial Times.
Public documents show that over the past several months, the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has expressed interest in acquiring up to 500 million dollars’ worth of cobalt, 245 million dollars’ worth of antimony from the domestic US Antimony Corporation, 100 million dollars’ worth of tantalum from an undisclosed American company, and 45 million dollars’ worth of scandium from Rio Tinto and APL Engineered Materials, a chemical manufacturing firm based in Illinois with offices in Japan and China.
Some of the metals the Pentagon is seeking to purchase have not previously been stockpiled.
Critical minerals are described as a national security priority for the Pentagon since they are essential to nearly every weapons system, as well as to technologies such as radar and missile detection systems.
The ability of China to cut off the supply of these critical minerals would have a direct, tangible, and negative impact on the United States’ ability to deploy the high-tech capabilities we will need for any strategic competition or conflict, said Stephanie Barna, an attorney at Covington & Burling in Washington.
As Ukrinform reported, on Thursday, October 9, China announced an immediate tightening of controls on rare earth exports, expanding restrictions on processing technologies, and banning supplies to foreign defense industry enterprises.
President Donald Trump stated that in response to Beijing’s latest sharp restrictions on the export of rare earth materials and production technologies, the United States will double tariffs on Chinese goods starting November 1.
Photo: AA
