• Wheaties [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    19 days ago

    Sixty percent of all tungsten consumed globally goes into cemented carbides. Every machining operation in modern manufacturing depends on them. No tooling, no machining. No machining, no production. The arithmetic really is that simple.

    China produces eighty-two point seven percent of the world’s tungsten. The United States produces zero. Net import reliance stands at one hundred percent.

    party-parrot-science I love learning about the properties of atoms and molecules

    • Wheaties [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      19 days ago

      Tungsten has no futures market. There is no LME contract providing transparent price discovery or hedging mechanisms. […] Participants cannot hedge. Speculators cannot arbitrage away mispricings. Inventory positions remain invisible until shortages manifest in production stoppages.

      tragic