The US launches a procurement program for strategic minerals
The special unit of the US Department of Defense plans to spend up to 1 billion dollars on the procurement of strategic minerals to reduce dependence on Chinese supplies, reports the Financial Times, citing official documents.
Recently, the Pentagon agency has been actively seeking suppliers of critical minerals. Among the planned purchases are cobalt for 500 million dollars, antimony for 245 million dollars from US Antimony Corporation, tantalum for 100 million dollars from an unidentified American company, and scandium for 45 million dollars from Rio Tinto and APL Engineered Materials from Illinois.
'China's ability to halt the supply of these critical minerals negatively impacts the US's capacity to leverage high-tech capabilities for strategic purposes. This could pose a serious hindrance in any conflictual or competitive relations,' warns Stephanie Barna, a representative of the Washington firm Covington & Burling.
China controls a large part of the global market for rare and critical metals through its mines and processing plants. This dependence has become a serious risk for the US and its allies, particularly in the context of geopolitical tensions between the two countries. The procurement program for strategic minerals is an attempt to ensure diverse supply sources and create stockpiles for security in case of potential disruptions or halts in supplies from China.
The launch of the strategic mineral procurement program demonstrates the growing concern of the US government regarding dependence on China in this domain and the efforts to create safer conditions for the defense industry.