After discontinuing the supply of gallium materials, the United States is even more concerned that if China discontinues the supply of mineral antimony, the United States will face a halt in ammunition production

Tech 2023-07-08 21:40:52 Source: Network

China's move to ban the export of gallium and germanium related items has attracted global attention. Firstly, Bloomberg reported on the implementation of export controls on gallium and germanium related items by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs

China's move to ban the export of gallium and germanium related items has attracted global attention. Firstly, Bloomberg reported on the implementation of export controls on gallium and germanium related items by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs. The report states that this is an escalation of China's technology trade war with Europe and America, which is in direct confrontation.

Then there were London metal traders who declared that "China's export controls will be disruptive - germanium and gallium are absolutely crucial to the high-tech industry

However, compared to gallium and germanium related items, the United States is more concerned about the key mineral antimony, and China will also ban exports. If China prohibits the export of mineral antimony, the ammunition production lines of American military enterprises, including bullets, missiles, explosives, etc., will face paralysis.

What is antimony

Antimony, a metallic element, is a silver white shiny hard and brittle metal (often made in various shapes such as rods, blocks, powders, etc.). There is a scaly crystal structure. Gradually losing its luster in humid air, it burns into white antimony oxide under strong heat. Easily soluble in aqua regia, soluble in concentrated sulfuric acid. Antimony mainly exists in Sulfide mineral Stibnite (Sb2S3) in nature.

Antimony trisulfide was used as eye shadow powder as early as 3100 BC in the pre dynasty of Egypt. The discovery of antimony plated copper vessels in Egypt can also be traced back to the years 2500 to 2200 BC. China is one of the countries in the world that discovered and used antimony earlier. With the development of science and technology, antimony has been widely used in the production of various flame retardants, alloys, ceramics, glass, pigments, semiconductor components, pharmaceuticals, and chemical industries.

In addition, Antimonide semiconductors have high Electron mobility and small band gap, which makes them have broad application prospects in optoelectronics, thermoelectric, photovoltaic cells and other fields. The Electron mobility of Antimonide semiconductors is several times higher than that of traditional semiconductors such as silicon and germanium, which makes them have great advantages in high-speed electronic devices. At the same time, the energy band gap of Antimonide semiconductors is smaller than that of silicon, germanium and other traditional semiconductors, which makes them have great application potential in solar cells, photodetectors and other fields. It can be said that the research and application of Antimonide semiconductor has become one of the hot spots in the semiconductor field. It should be noted that Antimonide semiconductors also include Gallium antimonide. If China bans the export of antimony materials, it will directly cause serious obstacles to American studies to research new generation chip technology.

Antimony is a strategic key mineral with a wide range of military applications, including hardened lead, ammunition primer, tracer ammunition, Armour-piercing ammunition, flares, nuclear weapons, Night-vision device, infrared sensors, precision optical lenses, laser sights, military clothing, etc. Due to the fact that the application field of antimony also includes a large number of military products, it has been included in the strategic resource catalog by multiple countries. In 2011, it was listed as the world's most scarce mineral by the British Geological Survey.

China is the world's largest producer of antimony

China is the world's largest antimony producer, accounting for about 80% of the world's total output. In addition, according to relevant data, in 2021, China's antimony reserves will total 480000 tons, accounting for 32.0% of the world's total antimony reserves, ranking first in the world. The main antimony mines are located in Hunan, Guangxi, Tibet and other places. Xikuangshan Mine, Lengshuijiang City, Hunan Province, is also known as the "World Antimony Capital". Among other countries, Bolivia has 310000 tons, accounting for 21%; Russia has 180000 tons, accounting for 12%. The reserves of antimony ore in the United States are very small, and the United States also lacks a processing industry chain, because antimony mainly exists in the form of Sulfide mineral Stibnite in nature.

It should be noted that due to the smaller quantity of antimony compared to rare earths, the known global reserves of antimony only reach 1.5 million tons, while the estimated annual global consumption of antimony is around 130000 tons. That is to say, the global antimony resources will be depleted within 12 years, indicating that this resource is very scarce.

Therefore, China's antimony mining is strictly limited in quantity. China mainly imports gold ore and concentrate from Australia, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and other places for further processing and export.

The United States heavily relies on Chinese antimony minerals

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a major US think tank, warned the United States that if the United States and China conduct a military confrontation, once the ammunition is consumed, the United States will not be able to carry out production. The procurement of Antimony, a key mineral in US high explosives and missile propellants, almost completely depends on China. At present, the United States has no production and processing industry chain of antimony raw materials, and these chains are all in China.

With the growing trade friction between China and the United States, as early as 2022, a report attached to the bill of the United States House Committee on Armed Services required the defense reserve managers to brief the committee on the status quo of Jin, and provide "a five-year outlook for this mineral and current and future supply chain weaknesses".

Antimony materials are the front-line resources of the United States' strategic reserves. The United States is worried that with the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the growing trade friction with China, antimony minerals will face a crisis of supply interruption. The United States also required the Department of Defense to formulate a waste Battery recycling recycling policy to recycle key minerals into the United States supply chain or strategic reserves. According to the United States' estimate at that time, if the Sino US conflict broke out frequently, the antimony reserves would be exhausted within a week. Martin, a senior researcher of RAND Corporation, a famous American think tank, also said that China has made it clear that it will spare no effort to fight for the recovery of Taiwan, and the United States will not be able to obtain specific raw materials from China at that time.

And this time, with China cutting off supplies of gallium and germanium related items, the United States is inevitably worried again that China will not only cut off supplies of gallium and germanium related items, but also other rare metals.

summary

Of course, many people may ask why at the beginning, we can't help but understand that licensing is not a one-time deal, and the best way to break down a country's industrial chain is not through sanctions but through dumping. In fact, the United States also does the same. When China was just preparing to develop EDA tools, the United States lifted export restrictions, and the prices of EDA tools in the United States were cheaper and more mature. As a result, domestic enterprises abandoned self-developed EDA, And the chip industry, due to its importance, China is relying on national efforts to develop it, and the United States' dumping cannot prevent China from developing the chip industry. Therefore, sanctions can only be imposed to slow down the speed of China's research and development.

At the beginning, China did not prohibit it in order to make the United States abandon the development of its related industrial chain. Whether it is rare earth, gallium, germanium, or antimony, the United States does not have a related industrial chain in the country. Even if there are mines in the country, it is impossible to extract them because there is no relevant talent, equipment, or technology in the country. It will take at least 10-15 years to completely complete the ban, It is completely possible to develop a new generation of technology.

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