China has now banned the export of metallic antimony, a critical material for military applications like high explosives, missile propellants, and infrared guidance. The US military industry heavily relies on China for its antimony supply.
Antimony is a chemical element; it has symbol Sb and atomic number 51.
A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite.
Antimony compounds have been known since ancient times and were powdered for use as medicine and cosmetics, often known by the Arabic name kohl.
China's export ban will severely impact both the US military and the Western solar industries.
Beyond military uses, antimony is essential for producing photovoltaic cells and glass, vital to the Western solar industry.
China controls 32% of global antimony reserves but dominates 80% of production.
While Bolivia and Russia also have significant reserves, it would take time and technological effort for the US to establish new production lines elsewhere. Time the U.S. doesn't have given its attempts to start World War 3 over the Ukraine-Russia and the Israel-Iran conflicts.
If the U.S. is successful in triggering WW3, we will simply not be able to manufacture explosives and missile propellants. We will find ourselves without weapons to engage in such a war, and also be unable to defend our own land.
