Prices rose to $595 per kilogram, a 17% increase over the previous level on December 11
Good thing they found some in Montana. Not that it’ll be online for a while.
I think the market is going to struggle with this for a while yet, in the mist of this brewing trade war.
I’d imagine this will lead to more gallium mining outside of China ramping up, but I’m not sure.
It would take years for new mining to begin to come on line. No one takes that risk based on the short term of a single presidential term.
You’d think, but its easier to just charge an extra 20% and then blame China while pocketing the extra 3%.
We wont start mining for rare earth metals until they simply refuse to sell to us.
Cheap labour followed by infrastructure if not (kinda corrupt system) government is also a thing.
That would require mining operations to be cheaper than the higher chinese export prices. I do not know if that is possible with labour costs, environmental requirements, permits and other obligations.
