China has announced a ban on exports to the United States of gallium, germanium and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.

China has near global monopolies on these exports, accounting for 98% of global gallium production, 93% of germanium production, and 49% of antimony production.

  • Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.worldEnglish
    181·
    22 days ago

    Germanium and gallium are not that rare. They’re produced as a byproduct of other types of mining (zinc, aluminum, coal, etc). China has a monopoly on them not because of any kind of special geology, but because they were willing to sell them below cost for decades.

    It won’t take long for alternative sources to spin up and become available, especially because China has been threatening to do this for over a year.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      71·
      22 days ago

      We mine a fair amount here in the US, and I’ve heard a lot of talk about expanding mining operations. I’m guessing it’s one of those cases where it’s just not economical given China’s pricing to extract those metals, and we could probably change that if we needed to.

      So yeah, I’m not too worried about it. Once costs go up, mining companies will get interested and provide supply.