China’s Antimony Acrimony & Blackmail

So, China announces export restrictions on the lion’s share of antimony we MUST have for our military weapons & semiconductors while Joe’s Green allies in Swamp impose regulations making mining for our own critical mineral supply impossible. Who’s on first?

Abbott & Costello couldn’t have made up a sketch zanier than this. As the WSJ editorial board noted, “Beijing isn’t coy about its motives … That’s the Chinese Communist Party’s way of reminding the West of its dependence on China for national defense” since “more than 300 types of munitions require antimony.” China controls about half of the world’s antimony ready for sale, a black crystalline mineral, & Russia & Tajikistan make up most of the rest. But wait. The US is sitting on “one of the world’s largest antimony reserves” that investors have been trying to develop for more than a decade. Sound promising? Not so much. That’s because US law & regulations & their state counterparts require a mindboggling 50 permits. The leading developer has “completed countless environmental studies & repeatedly modified its project to allay concerns by green groups,” the editors note, “though they keep raising new complaints.”

Naturally. And, the WSJ opines, even if all those regulatory hurdles are somehow overcome, you can bet a wave of lawsuits will shut the effort down as well. The likely result? Chinese extortion, “much as Europe found itself dependent on Russian natural gas.” Will Joe & Kamala ever do anything about this? Concludes the WSJ: “The Biden Administration & Democrats in Congress have shown no interest in expediting projects that don’t directly advance their climate goals. As far as we can tell, Kamala Harris hasn’t given a thought to permitting difficulties or China’s critical mineral leverage. By the time the Democrats in Washington wake up to the problem, it may be too late to matter.”

Davd Soul