Pentagon Allocates $1 Billion for Minerals: USA Reduces Dependence on China.

The USA Begins a Program to Purchase Strategic Minerals

According to inkorr.com: The U.S. Department of Defense's special unit plans to spend up to $1 billion on procuring strategic minerals to reduce dependence on supplies from China. This is reported by the Financial Times, citing official documents.

Recently, the Pentagon has been actively seeking suppliers of critical minerals. Planned purchases include cobalt worth $500 million, antimony for $245 million from US Antimony Corporation, tantalum for $100 million from an unknown American company, and scandium for $45 million from Rio Tinto and APL Engineered Materials from Illinois.

'China's ability to stop the supply of these critical minerals has a negative impact on the USA's capability to utilize high-tech resources for strategic purposes. This may become a serious hindrance in any conflicting or competitive relations,' warns Stephanie Barna, a representative of the Washington firm Covington&Burling.

China controls a significant portion of the global market for rare and critical metals due to its deposits and processing plants. This dependence has become a serious risk for the USA and its allies, especially amidst geopolitical tension between the two countries. The strategic minerals procurement program aims to create diverse supply sources and safety stocks in case of possible restrictions or interruptions in supplies from China.

The launch of the strategic minerals procurement program reflects the growing concern of the American government regarding dependence on China in this area and the desire to ensure safer conditions for the defense industry.

This program could significantly impact the future supply of strategic materials for the USA. In order to strengthen national security, the USA is actively working to reduce external dependence and create its own stocks of critical resources, thereby forming a more resilient economic and defense policy amidst modern challenges.