Pentagon Looking to Buy $1 Billion in Critical Minerals, FT Says

[DFW]

10. Well, let's see--congo has a fair amount of cobalt

Although I recall that some was found in Montana, too. China has a lot of antimony, Romania has a fair amount of that as well. I have no idea where tantalum is found. Weird stuff. Melting point not as low as mercury, but pretty close. Five years ago, I was sitting on two kilograms of 98% pure iridium that I had bought as a spontaneous investment for €5500 per kilo. But I couldn’t find anyone anywhere in Europe who could refine it, and ended up having to sell it for half its market price (not that I had any pressing need for 2 kilos of 98% pure iridium, you understand). Some of these rare metals have extremely high melting points, and are useless to industry unless refined to purity. It was like inheriting some money that was in cash inside a titanium vault that no one could open.