Concerns about dependence on China
for samarium are not new. Starting in
the 1970s, militaries in the West de-
pended on a single chemical factory in
La Rochelle, France, that refined sa-
marium from ore mined in Australia.
But that factory closed in 1994, partly
because of pollution concerns. The fac-
tory also could not compete with inex-
pensive production in Baotou, a city in
China's Inner Mongolia region with a
history of weak environmental enforce-
ment, even by China's standards.
In 2009, U.S, lawmakers became wor-
ried about American dependence on sa-
marium supplies from refineries in Bao-
tou, a flat, dry industrial city at the
southern edge of the Gobi Desert. Con-
gress ordered the Defense Department
to come up with a plan by the next year
to address the issue.
That was before China halted ship-
Okay, not excellent #Samarium