The Bureau of Industry and Security at the U.S. Department of Commerce is moving to restrict for one year the exports of black mass and tungsten waste and scrap without a license to ensure domestic supply of the critical metals.
In a request for comments on the temporary final rule, the Department of Commerce said the move follows the Presidential Determination pursuant to Section 101 of the Defense Production Act (DPA) from last week.
The determination says that recoverable critical minerals and materials (CMMs) are scarce and critical materials essential to the national defense. With these findings, the President authorized the Secretary of Commerce to use the delegated authority to implement this determination by taking all appropriate action under section 101 of the DPA.
“This temporary rule is necessary to immediately secure the supply of certain recoverable CMMs to ensure an adequate supply of these materials deemed essential to the national defense, as required by the President under DPA Determination on Recoverable CMMs,” the Department of Commerce said.
Black mass, which is shredded metals from recycled lithium-ion batteries, as well as tungsten waste and scrap, will be sold only domestically unless an exporter applies for and secures a license.
The move is part of the U.S. Administration’s move to secure critical mineral supplies key to national defense and the military amid fragmented global trade with Chinese export controls that apply to tungsten, too.
Tungsten prices have surged by over 500% in the past year amid Chinese export restrictions, tight supply, and heavy global military spending.
The U.S. has just discovered its biggest tungsten deposit, but development is hitting a roadblock from NASA, which is opposing any further development work.
The company that made the discovery, 3 Proton Lithium, drilled in a remote section of the Great Basin Desert in Nevada. According to NASA, a large portion of the area is being used to track satellite signals sent to Earth from space. The agency insists that any mining work there would compromise the tracking. NASA has already blocked drilling in the area where it tracks satellite signals.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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