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Alaska’s new mining rush chases something more coveted than gold
By Jon Emont and Angela Owens
The Wall Street Journal
via MSN News, Redmond, Washington
Saturday, November 8, 2025
ESTER, Alaska -- At a mining site here, Rod Blakestad cracked open a shiny rock with his pick. He found quartz, a sign that the rock may contain gold.
But Blakestad, a veteran gold hunter, tossed the rock aside. He and his team of geologists were searching for something even more sought-after: antimony, an obscure element widely used in the defense industry that is now at the center of the bitter U.S.-China trade fight.
... Dispatch continues below ...
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Company Announcement
Monday, November 3, 2025
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... For the remainder of the announcement:
"If we were looking for gold, we'd be high-fiving," he said.
Until recently, antimony, which is often found in gold mines, was treated as detritus by gold miners.
But that began changing last year, when China put in place heavy restrictions on antimony exports, including banning all shipments to the U.S. in December, in retaliation for restrictions Washington put on the export of American technology products to China.
That is squeezing defense companies, which use antimony to harden bullets and strengthen armor-penetrating projectiles. Antimony prices have quadrupled from two years ago and supplies are now scarce, just as defense companies need to replenish stockpiles of armaments exhausted by the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. ...
... For the remainder of the report:
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