Last updated: 2026-07-06
China Export Controls: MOFCOM Adds Bismuth to the 2025 Retaliation List
China supplies ~88% of world refined bismuth (14,000 of 16,000 tonnes in 2025).
On 4 February 2025, MOFCOM placed bismuth metal and three bismuth compounds under
formal export licensing — directly in response to new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
On 4 February 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and the General
Administration of Customs (GAC) jointly issued
Announcement No. 10 of 2025,
imposing export-licensing controls on items related to tungsten, tellurium, bismuth,
molybdenum, and indium. The bismuth-specific controls cover metallic bismuth and
bismuth products (customs code 8106101091 and related codes), bismuth germanate, triphenyl
bismuth, and tri-p-ethoxyphenyl bismuth, plus associated production technology
(Shanghai Metals Market translation of the MOFCOM text).
The measure took effect immediately upon publication, with no phase-in period.
MOFCOM explicitly tied the timing to trade retaliation: China announced plans for the controls
in early February 2025 in direct response to the 10% tariff the United States imposed on
Chinese imports that same month
(Reuters, 4 Feb 2025).
At a MOFCOM press briefing, spokesperson He Yongqian stated the controlled items have
“both military and civilian applications” and that “downstream products have
high risks of military use,” while affirming that “the Chinese government will
approve applications for export licenses that comply with the relevant regulations”
(MOFCOM press conference, 6 Feb 2025).
This is a separate, standalone control distinct from the antimony/gallium/germanium restrictions
under 2024 Announcement No. 46. Bismuth was not included in the December 2024
antimony package; it was added two months later, in February 2025, as part of a five-metal
basket (W, Te, Bi, Mo, In) explicitly linked to the tariff dispute rather than to the earlier
national-security dual-use rationale used for antimony
(USGS MCS 2026, bismuth chapter).
Why it matters: the United States is 92% net import reliant on
bismuth, with China supplying 56% of U.S. import sources (2021–24 average) and the
Republic of Korea and Germany supplying most of the rest — but Korean and German bismuth
chemical production itself depends on Chinese refined metal feedstock
(USGS MCS 2026).
Bismuth is the active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol-type stomach remedies, a lead-free solder and
machining-alloy additive, and a fire-suppression trigger metal — a small, overlooked market
that had no Western stockpile or alternate refining base when the controls hit.
Current status (July 2026):
MOFCOM Announcement No. 10/2025 licensing regime remains
fully in force for
bismuth; it was not among the announcements suspended in the November 2025 U.S.-China
de-escalation, which covered only the October 2025 rare-earth measures and part of the
antimony/gallium/germanium ban
(
Pillsbury Law, 13 Nov 2025).
Watch: Chinese licence issuance data, U.S. Section 303 DPA actions, further
MOFCOM amendments.
Last updated: 2026-07-06
Price Surge: From $5.30/lb to a Record $34/lb
Bismuth (in-warehouse Rotterdam) rose from $5.96/lb in January 2025 to a peak of
$34.22/lb in March 2025 — a
474% increase in nine weeks. The 2025
full-year average of $20/lb was the
highest on record, nearly four times the
2024 average (
USGS MCS 2026).
| Date | Price ($/lb, Rotterdam in-warehouse) | Trigger |
|---|
| Jan 2024 | $3.89 | Pre-surge baseline |
| Oct 2024 | $6.29 | Tight supply, rising solar/pharma demand |
| 2024 average | $5.30 | +30% vs 2023; highest annual average since 2018 |
| Late Jan 2025 | ~$6 (Europe) | Pre-control baseline |
| Jan 2025 | $5.96 (monthly avg) | Baseline before MOFCOM 2025/10 |
| 4 Feb 2025 | — | MOFCOM Announcement No. 10/2025 effective |
| 19 Mar 2025 | $40/lb Europe; $55/lb U.S. (spot) | Physical shortage, Reuters reported "all-time high" |
| Mar 2025 | $34.22 (monthly avg, record) | Peak of the 2025 spike |
| Oct 2025 | $17.50 (monthly avg) | Partial retracement |
| 2025 average | $20.00 | Highest annual average on record, ~4x 2024 |
Reuters reported that European spot bismuth “jumped to $40 a lb..., an all-time high, up
from $6 per lb in late January, a more than six-fold rise,” while
“in the United States, bismuth prices are even higher – at $55 a lb compared with
$6.5–$7 before China's export curbs,” with traders attributing the extra U.S. premium
to the added effect of Trump-administration tariffs on Chinese goods
(Reuters, 19 Mar 2025).
USGS attributes the record $34.22/lb monthly peak directly to
“China issuing export controls on bismuth in response to the United States imposing 10%
import tariffs on Chinese goods in February”
(USGS MCS 2026).
The physical impact showed up in trade data: U.S. bismuth metal imports from China (Harmonized
System code 8106) fell 40% to an estimated 460 tons in 2025, down from 760 tons
in 2024 (USGS MCS 2026).
Chinese domestic 99.99%-purity bismuth reportedly traded around
¥100,000–110,000/tonne (roughly $13,800–$15,200/tonne, or $6.25–$6.90/lb) in
early 2025 even as Western spot markets spiked far higher, reflecting the widening gap between
China's internal price and the scarcity premium paid by import-dependent buyers outside China
(Accio market data compilation, 2026).
Current status (July 2026):
Prices have retraced from the March 2025 peak but remain structurally elevated versus the
pre-2024 $3–5/lb range. U.S. government procurement (see Section 3) was assessing bismuth
at
$15–18/lb fob U.S. warehouse as of late August 2025
(
Argus Media, 29 Aug 2025).
Watch: USGS quarterly price updates, Fastmarkets and Argus Rotterdam assessments.
Last updated: 2026-07-06
The US Response: First National Defense Stockpile Bismuth Buy Since 1997
The Defense Logistics Agency is buying up to 5,167,272 lb (2,344 tonnes) of 99.99%
bismuth metal for the National Defense Stockpile — the first bismuth acquisition
for the stockpile since the last reserves were sold off in 1997, authorized under the FY2025 NDAA.
20 March 2025 — President Trump signs
Executive Order 14241, "Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production",
delegating Defense Production Act Title III (Section 303) authority to the Secretary of Defense
for domestic mineral production, including critical minerals such as bismuth
(Congressional Research Service, IN12540).
23 May 2025 — A presidential memorandum under DPA Section 303 waives
standard statutory procedural requirements for supply chains tied to "munitions, missiles and
associated equipment, and minerals," explicitly citing critical minerals as defined at 30 U.S.C.
§1606(a)(3), which speeds Pentagon capital deployment into bismuth and related metals
(Federal Register, 4 Jun 2025).
27 August 2025 — The DLA Strategic Materials Directorate issues Request
for Proposal SP8000-25-R-0017 to acquire up to 5,167,272 lb
(2,344 t) of 99.99%-purity (4N) commercial-grade bismuth metal in slab or ingot form
over a five-year IDIQ contract, minimum guaranteed value $3 million, ceiling $65 million,
deliveries to the DLA Hawthorne Army Depot in Nevada. Annual purchase quantities decline from
1.23 million lb in Year 1 to 854,000 lb in Year 5. All production, sampling, and testing must
occur within the continental United States
(HigherGov federal contract record, SP8000-25-R-0017;
Argus Media, 29 Aug 2025).
15 September 2025 — Reuters confirms the DLA "is set to acquire over
5 million pounds" of bismuth for the stockpile, noting the material "has not been part of the
national stockpile for nearly thirty years" and citing DLA's stated goal to "mitigate risk of
[disruption] in the bismuth supply chain" for defense uses, particularly lead-mimicking
ammunition alloys
(Reuters, 15 Sep 2025).
19 December 2025 — DLA issues a follow-on solicitation,
SP8000-26-R-0009, for up to 79,380 lb of additional 99.99% bismuth ingot/slab,
continuing the stockpile build-out into FY2026
(Gov Contract Finder, SP8000-26-R-0009).
Why it matters: the Pentagon's FY2026 DPA Title III budget justification lists
bismuth explicitly among the minerals targeted for domestic supply-chain investment, alongside
arsenic, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, indium, and rare earths, "to alleviate the
Department's reliance on foreign markets"
(Department of War, DPAP FY2026 Budget Justification).
Unlike antimony or gallium, there is no dedicated U.S. primary bismuth mine or smelter project
under construction; the DLA program is a pure stockpile-buy strategy, not a production-buildout
strategy, because the U.S. ceased primary bismuth refining in 1997 and has no active domestic
deposit large enough to support one
(USGS MCS 2026).
Current status (July 2026):
DLA stockpile purchases are underway (SP8000-25-R-0017 awarded; SP8000-26-R-0009 follow-on
solicited December 2025). No DPA Title III production award or EXIM loan specific to bismuth
has been announced as of July 2026, unlike antimony (Perpetua) or gallium. 5N Plus (Canada) and
US Antimony Corp remain the leading non-Chinese processors of bismuth-bearing feedstock, but
neither operates primary bismuth mining. Watch: DLA contract award notices,
any DPA Title III award specific to bismuth smelting/refining capacity.
Bismuth's defense value comes almost entirely from one property: it is the closest nontoxic
chemical and physical analog to lead, with a similarly high atomic number (83) and density
(9.78 g/cm³), but without lead's toxicity. Per
USGS MCS 2026,
bismuth's principal metallurgical role is as "a nontoxic replacement for lead in brass,
free-machining aluminum alloys and steels, and solders."
1. Lead-mimicking ammunition and munitions components
DLA's own solicitation language states that bismuth metal "is utilized in various sectors,
including metallurgy and defense, particularly in some types of ammunition, as it can replicate
the properties of lead"
(Reuters, 15 Sep 2025,
citing the DLA statement of work). Bismuth-based non-toxic shot has been developed as an
environmentally compliant substitute for lead shot and bullet cores where lead-toxicity
regulation restricts lead ammunition use; academic testing has evaluated bismuth-jacketed rounds
as a "green substitute for lead" in mainstream calibers
(University of South Florida thesis on bismuth ammunition, 2015).
2. Lead-free solder for military electronics
Bismuth is a core alloying element in lead-free solders used across military and aerospace
electronics assembly. NASA's Lead-Free Solder Body of Knowledge notes that "adding up to 5%
bismuth may improve reliability" in tin-based lead-free solder joints and documents bismuth's
role in tin-whisker mitigation and joint microstructure control
(NASA NEPP Lead-Free Solder Body of Knowledge).
The Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation's investigation into lead-free solder
for defense applications found bismuth "lowers the melting temperature" and "provides higher
tensile strength" in solder alloys, while flagging that no MIL-STD currently exists for a
lead-free solder formally qualified for military use — underscoring that bismuth solder
adoption in defense systems is still in transition rather than settled doctrine
(DSTO Technical Note 0970).
3. Free-machining alloys for precision-machined military hardware
Bismuth additions of typically under 0.5% by weight enable "free-machining" steels, brasses, and
aluminum alloys used in precision-machined components, replacing lead as the chip-breaking
agent. The U.S. International Trade Commission has separately investigated antidumping cases
specifically covering "hot-rolled lead and bismuth carbon steel products," reflecting bismuth's
established role as a lead-substitute machinability additive in structural and mechanical steel
supply chains that feed defense manufacturing
(USITC Publication 2611).
The lead-free requirement was reinforced domestically after the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act's
"lead-free" threshold was tightened in 2014 from 8% to 0.25% maximum lead content, pushing
bismuth further into plumbing and fitting alloys used across military installations
(USGS MCS 2026).
4. Fusible alloys for fire safety and ordnance-adjacent applications
Bismuth's low melting point (271°C) makes it a core component of fusible alloys used as
"a triggering mechanism for fire sprinklers," as temporary fillers in metal-forming and tube
bending, and as plugs for abandoned wells — applications relevant to shipboard and
installation fire-suppression systems and precision tooling
(USGS MCS 2026).
5. Radiation shielding for medical and field applications
Bismuth and tungsten-bismuth composites are increasingly studied as lightweight, nontoxic
alternatives to lead radiation shielding. A 2026 clinical study found triple-layer
tungsten-bismuth shielding sheets achieved "over 98% attenuation at key anatomical sites and
over 99% at high-exposure zones" during fluoroscopy-guided procedures, at "less than 5% of
conventional lead-acrylic barrier" cost
(Journal of Thoracic Disease, 26 Feb 2026).
Bismuth's high atomic number (83) and density give it strong X-ray and gamma attenuation
properties without lead's toxicity, supporting its use in patient breast/gonadal shields and
field-deployable radiation protection
(Radiation Physics and Chemistry review, 2024).
6. Pharmaceutical stockpile relevance: bismuth subsalicylate
Bismuth subsalicylate is the active ingredient in over-the-counter antidiarrheal and
gastrointestinal remedies (branded as Pepto-Bismol and generics) and in treatments for burns and
stomach ulcers
(USGS MCS 2026).
5N Plus states it supplies "over 70% of the world's bismuth chemicals" for pharmaceutical and
healthcare applications from its FDA-approved, GMP-certified Lübeck, Germany facility
(5N Plus, 2025 Forced Labour Report).
This pharmaceutical supply chain, though not classically "defense," was directly disrupted by
the 2025 price spike and is treated by USGS and industry press as a supply-security concern given
the near-total China dependency for feedstock metal.
Current status (July 2026):
No MIL-STD-qualified lead-free solder specification currently exists, meaning bismuth solder
adoption in defense electronics remains ad hoc rather than mandated. DLA's stockpile buy targets
raw metal reserves, not a domestic refining or smelting capability — the U.S. has zero
primary bismuth production capacity. Watch: any DPA Title III award targeting
bismuth refining (comparable to the antimony trisulfide mobile-refinery model), MIL-STD
lead-free solder qualification progress.
Before the 2025 controls, the United States sourced bismuth overwhelmingly from China, both
directly and indirectly through Korean and German intermediaries who themselves depend on
Chinese-refined metal. Per USGS MCS 2026,
U.S. import sources for 2021–2024 were China 56%, Republic of Korea 22%, Germany
13%, and other sources 9% — a marked shift from the 2018 pattern of China 60%,
Korea 12%, Mexico 8%, Belgium 6%
(USGS 2018 Minerals Yearbook, bismuth).
U.S. import volumes and reliance, 2020–2025
| Year |
U.S. imports, metal/alloys/scrap (tonnes) |
Net import reliance |
Average price ($/lb) |
| 2020 | 1,650 | 93% | $2.73 |
| 2021 | 1,980 | 92% | $3.74 |
| 2022 | 3,080 | 97% | $3.90 |
| 2023 | 1,840 | 94% | $4.08 |
| 2024 | 1,800 | 90% | $5.30–$5.40 |
| 2025e | 1,500 | 92% | $20.00 |
Source: USGS MCS 2025
and USGS MCS 2026
bismuth chapters. U.S. bismuth metal imports specifically from China fell 40% to an
estimated 460 tons in 2025, down from 760 tons in 2024, directly reflecting the effect
of MOFCOM licensing on shipment volumes even though total U.S. import tonnage held roughly
steady, implying substitution toward Korean, German, and other third-country supply
(USGS MCS 2026).
Country-level trade snapshot (2024, U.S. imports of bismuth & articles, HS 8106)
| Rank | Origin | Value (US$000) | Volume (kg) |
|---|
| 1 | Republic of Korea | 8,413.9 | 787,520 |
| 2 | China | 7,468.7 | 758,449 |
| 3 | Mexico | 1,676.8 | 25,827 |
| 4 | Japan | 1,187.7 | 107,408 |
| 5 | Germany | 1,002.8 | 65,610 |
Source: World Bank WITS, UN Comtrade data, HS 810600, 2024.
Total 2024 U.S. imports under this code were valued at approximately $20.5 million. Notably,
by value, Korea narrowly exceeded China as the top single origin in 2024 — a reflection of
Korea's byproduct bismuth recovery from zinc smelting and its role as a refining and re-export
hub for material of ultimately Chinese origin.
Global production concentration, 2023–2025
| Country | 2023 (t) | 2024 (t) | 2025e (t) |
|---|
| China | 13,300 | 14,000 | 14,000 |
| Republic of Korea | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Laos | 1,150 | 749 | 500 |
| Kazakhstan | 180 | 180 | 180 |
| Japan | 500 | 500 | 500 |
| Bulgaria | 46 | 48 | 50 |
| Bolivia | 68 | 50 | 50 |
| World total | 16,200 | 16,300 | 16,000 |
Source: USGS MCS 2026.
China's share of world production rose from roughly 80–82% in 2023–2024 to
88% in 2025, as Laos's byproduct output (recovered from tungsten and other ore
processing at operations such as the Sepon mine complex) fell by roughly a third year-on-year,
further concentrating global supply in China rather than diversifying it
(USGS MCS 2026;
Sepon mine operations newsletter).
The National Association of Manufacturers' March 2026 comment to USTR on critical minerals
flagged bismuth explicitly as a target of "economic coercion," noting "China imposes export
controls on bismuth, indium, tellurium and tungsten" and that "China controls 88% of worldwide
production for bismuth. U.S. imports primarily from China (56%), and prices have risen with
export controls imposed in response to U.S.-issued tariffs on Chinese goods"
(National Association of Manufacturers, USTR comment, 19 Mar 2026).
Current status (July 2026):
MOFCOM Announcement No. 10/2025 licensing remains in force worldwide; it was not part of the
November 2025 U.S.-China suspension package. U.S. bismuth imports from China down 40% in 2025
even as total U.S. import volume held near-steady via Korean and other substitution. No
diversified non-Chinese primary bismuth mine exists; global supply concentration in China
increased in 2025 to 88%. Watch: USGS 2027 MCS bismuth chapter
(Feb 2027), Laos/Sepon byproduct output trends, Korean refinery throughput data.
Bismuth's re-emergence as a strategic material happened almost entirely within a 15-month window
in 2024–2025, driven by tariff retaliation rather than a long-planned national-security
rationale. Each entry links to the primary record.
| Date |
Event |
Primary source |
| 2020–2023 |
Bismuth trades quietly in the $2.73–$4.08/lb range with U.S. net import reliance of 92–97%; China supplies roughly two-thirds of import sources. No Western government treats it as a stockpile priority. |
USGS MCS 2025 |
| 16 Mar 2023 |
European Commission's Critical Raw Materials Act proposal, COM(2023) 160 final, lists bismuth as a Strategic Raw Material in Annex I. |
European Commission COM(2023) 160 |
| 2024 (full year) |
Average bismuth price rises to $5.30/lb, a 30% increase over 2023 and the highest annual average since 2018; monthly Rotterdam prices climb from $3.89/lb in January to $6.29/lb in October. |
USGS MCS 2025 |
| 3 Dec 2024 |
MOFCOM Announcement No. 46/2024 bans antimony, gallium, and germanium exports to the U.S. — bismuth is notably absent from this package, remaining uncontrolled for two more months. |
Reuters, 3 Dec 2024 |
| 4 Feb 2025 |
MOFCOM and GAC jointly issue Announcement No. 10 of 2025, imposing export-licensing controls on tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium, effective immediately, in response to new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. |
MOFCOM Announcement No. 10/2025 |
| Feb 2025 |
Chinese bismuth exports collapse to an estimated 458 tonnes for the month, far below the prior monthly average of roughly 1,000 tonnes, as exporters await licenses. |
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 — Bismuth |
| 20 Mar 2025 |
President Trump signs Executive Order 14241, delegating DPA Title III authority to the Secretary of Defense to accelerate domestic mineral production, covering critical minerals including bismuth. |
White House, EO 14241 |
| 19 Mar 2025 |
Reuters reports European spot bismuth at $40/lb (up from $6/lb in late January) and U.S. spot at $55/lb, calling both levels all-time highs. |
Reuters, 19 Mar 2025 |
| Mar 2025 |
USGS-tracked Rotterdam monthly average price peaks at a record $34.22/lb, the highest monthly average on record for bismuth. |
USGS MCS 2026 |
| 23 May 2025 |
Presidential memorandum waives standard DPA Section 303 procedural requirements for munitions, missiles, and critical-mineral supply chains, easing the path for future bismuth-related procurement. |
Federal Register, 4 Jun 2025 |
| 27 Aug 2025 |
DLA Strategic Materials issues solicitation SP8000-25-R-0017 seeking up to 5,167,272 lb of 99.99% bismuth metal for the National Defense Stockpile — the first bismuth acquisition since 1997. |
HigherGov, SP8000-25-R-0017 |
| 15 Sep 2025 |
Reuters confirms the DLA bismuth stockpile tender, describing it as ending nearly 30 years without a bismuth reserve. |
Reuters, 15 Sep 2025 |
| Oct 2025 |
Rotterdam monthly average price falls to $17.50/lb, a partial retracement from the March peak but still roughly 3x the pre-2025 baseline; full-year 2025 average settles at $20/lb. |
USGS MCS 2026 |
| 9 Nov 2025 |
MOFCOM suspends part of Announcement No. 46/2024 (antimony/gallium/germanium) toward the U.S. through 27 Nov 2026; the bismuth-specific Announcement No. 10/2025 is not included in the suspension and remains fully in force. |
Pillsbury Law, 13 Nov 2025 |
| 19 Dec 2025 |
DLA issues follow-on solicitation SP8000-26-R-0009 for an additional 79,380 lb of 99.99% bismuth metal, continuing the stockpile build into FY2026. |
Gov Contract Finder, SP8000-26-R-0009 |
| 2026 (current) |
China's share of world bismuth production rises to 88%; U.S. bismuth imports from China fall 40% year-on-year to an estimated 460 tons; bismuth remains listed as a Strategic/Critical Raw Material by both USGS and the EU, with no non-Chinese primary bismuth mine in active development. |
USGS MCS 2026 bismuth chapter |
What the timeline shows: unlike antimony, gallium, or germanium, bismuth's
weaponization was a fast, tariff-triggered add-on rather than a years-in-the-making national-security
strategy — MOFCOM added it to the control list in February 2025, two months after the
antimony ban, explicitly citing the U.S. tariff dispute. The West's response mirrored that speed:
the DLA moved from an executive order in March 2025 to an active stockpile solicitation by August
2025 and a signed IDIQ contract structure by year-end — the fastest U.S. stockpile
reconstitution of any of the 2024–2025 controlled minerals, but one aimed purely at buying
reserves rather than building a domestic production alternative, because none currently exists.
Active — licensing regime in force, no resolution date set
Almost no bismuth is mined for its own sake. Per USGS MCS 2026,
bismuth is produced “most often as a byproduct during the processing of lead ores”; in China
and Vietnam it also comes out as a byproduct or coproduct of tungsten and other metal ore processing,
and in Japan and South Korea as a byproduct of zinc ore processing. The Tasna mine in Bolivia and one
mine in China are cited as the only operations anywhere where bismuth is the primary product —
everywhere else, bismuth output rises and falls with decisions made about lead, zinc, copper, or
tungsten, not about bismuth itself. This byproduct structure is precisely why the metal had no
Western stockpile, no dedicated mine-to-metal supply chain, and no fast substitution option when
Chinese export licensing hit in 2025.
1. Fortune Minerals' NICO project: the only advanced non-Chinese bismuth-primary development asset
Fortune Minerals' NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper deposit in Canada's Northwest Territories is the
rare counter-example: a polymetallic ore body where bismuth is one of four co-equal payable metals
rather than a smelter afterthought. The company states NICO hosts 12% of the world's known
bismuth reserves, with Mineral Reserves of 33.1 million tonnes containing 102.1 million
pounds of bismuth alongside 1.1 million ounces of gold, 82.3 million pounds of cobalt, and 27.2
million pounds of copper
(Fortune Minerals, NICO project page).
The plan is fully vertically integrated: ore mined and concentrated at NICO in the NWT would ship to
a dedicated hydrometallurgical refinery Fortune is developing in Alberta's Industrial Heartland
(relocated from an earlier planned site near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), producing cobalt sulphate,
gold doré, 99.99% bismuth ingot and oxide, and copper cement
(Fortune Minerals, NICO project page).
At steady state the refinery is designed to produce roughly 1,700 tonnes of bismuth ingot
annually over a planned ~20-year mine life
(Canadian Mining Journal, 2014).
2. The DoD Title III award and the Saskatoon-to-Alberta hydromet path
On 16 May 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a US$6,380,555
(~C$8.74 million) Defense Production Act Title III award to Fortune Minerals —
alongside a companion award to graphite developer Lomiko Metals — explicitly “to help
support the U.S.-Canadian Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals,” with the DoD press release
stating the funding “supports cobalt sulfate and bismuth metal production capabilities, which
is essential for DoD and civilian markets”
(U.S. Department of War, 16 May 2024).
The Canadian government matched with USD $5.6 million in additional contribution funding through
Natural Resources Canada
(U.S. Department of War, 16 May 2024).
Fortune has stated it was the first Canadian project ever to receive funding under
this DoD program, which dates to 1985
(Fortune Minerals CEO Robin Goad, Proactive interview, May 2025).
The DPA funds four workstreams: metallurgical test work to optimize the Alberta refinery's
hydrometallurgical process, completion of permits for the NICO mine/concentrator in the NWT,
permitting for the Alberta refinery site, and an updated feasibility study reflecting the new
refinery location and mine plan
(Business Wire, 16 May 2024).
The refinery site itself moved south over the project's history — originally planned near
Langham, Saskatchewan (27 km northwest of Saskatoon) as the “Saskatchewan Metals Processing
Plant,” which received Saskatchewan environmental assessment approval in 2014, before Fortune
relocated the hydrometallurgical facility to a brownfield site in Alberta's Industrial Heartland
near Edmonton to access rail, utilities, and a collaboration with Rio Tinto to co-process waste
streams from Rio Tinto's Kennecott smelter in Utah
(PR Newswire, 11 Feb 2014;
Fortune Minerals CEO interview, May 2024).
3. Timeline to construction: still pre-financing as of mid-2026
By May 2025, Fortune reported that metallurgical validation of the bismuth recovery circuit was
“essentially complete,” that Process Design Criteria for bismuth had been finalized and
handed to engineering, and that the company had successfully produced high-purity 4N
(99.99%) bismuth ingots confirming the commercial viability of its smelting and refining
approach, using a ferric-chloride leach-and-cementation circuit
(Fortune Minerals, Proactive interview, 20 May 2025).
By April 2026, Fortune was pursuing further government funding — applying to Canada's Critical
Minerals Infrastructure Fund for up to $50 million toward an access road, and separately responding
to a U.S. Department of War Defense Industrial Base Consortium request for proposals aimed
specifically at closing “a gap in domestic bismuth production,” which the company notes
prioritizes bismuth among thirteen critical minerals given that “China currently controls
approximately 90% of refined production”
(Fortune Minerals news release, 29 Apr 2026).
As of that release, permitting and engineering work was targeted for completion by Q3 2026, with
construction still contingent on securing full project financing — meaning NICO remains a
pre-construction asset, not yet an operating mine, despite more than $150 million invested to date
and over $20 million of combined U.S./Canadian government support
(Fortune Minerals, NICO project page).
4. Refining leaders outside China: 5N Plus, Korea Zinc, and the lead/zinc byproduct smelters
5N Plus Inc., headquartered in Saint-Laurent (Montreal), Quebec, is the largest
Western processor and refiner of bismuth and bismuth chemicals, describing itself as supplying
“over 70% of the world's bismuth chemicals” for pharmaceutical and healthcare
applications from its FDA-approved, GMP-certified facility in Lübeck, Germany
(5N Plus, 2025 Report on Fighting Forced Labour).
5N Plus does not mine bismuth; it refines and formulates purchased bismuth metal and historically
sourced feed from operations such as a Vietnamese bismuth mine
(5N Plus, CNW release, 24 Oct 2013),
and has periodically adjusted its own refining output relative to purchased metal depending on
market conditions
(5N Plus, July 2019).
In South Korea, Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter is the only producer of antimony,
bismuth, and indium in the country, recovering all three as byproducts by circulating and
concentrating residues across its integrated zinc, lead, and copper smelting circuits rather than
discarding them
(Korea Zinc corporate profile).
A Korea Zinc technician explained the constraint directly: “indium, antimony and bismuth do
not have concentrates. They all come only from extracts of zinc, lead and copper smelting”
(ChosunBiz, 8 Mar 2026).
Korea Zinc has applied to Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to have its integrated
byproduct-recovery process designated a National Core Technology, and is separately building a
US$7.8 billion smelter complex in Tennessee that would replicate this multi-metal byproduct recovery
model on U.S. soil
(Asiae, 29 Dec 2025;
Seoul Economic Daily, 9 Mar 2026).
Elsewhere, Trafigura-owned Nyrstar is exploring bismuth (and tellurium) recovery at
its Port Pirie lead smelter in Australia alongside its antimony ramp-up, with government support,
while the European Commission's 2023 review of the Umicore-Aurubis Hoboken transaction confirms that
lead smelters such as Umicore's Hoboken plant and independent refiner ERS produce bismuth alloy
(roughly 80–90% lead, 10–20% bismuth) as a standard byproduct stream from lead refining,
which is then sold onward for further bismuth/lead separation
(Trafigura/Nyrstar, 17 Feb 2026;
European Commission merger decision, Umicore/Aurubis Hoboken).
Current status (July 2026):
No non-Chinese primary bismuth mine or refinery is in commercial production. Fortune Minerals' NICO
remains pre-construction, targeting completion of permitting and engineering by Q3 2026 and still
seeking full project financing. Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter and 5N Plus's Montreal/Lübeck
operations are the only scaled non-Chinese bismuth processing bases, and both depend on byproduct
streams or purchased feed rather than dedicated bismuth mining. Watch: Fortune
Minerals construction-financing decision, DoW Defense Industrial Base Consortium bismuth award
outcome, Nyrstar Port Pirie bismuth feasibility results.
Bismuth's defense relevance (Section 4) sits on top of a much larger, decades-old commercial base in
pharmaceuticals, fusible alloys, and pigments — uses USGS groups under “chemicals used
in cosmetic, industrial, laboratory, and pharmaceutical applications,” plus “ceramic
glazes, crystalware, high-performance pigments, and pearlescent pigments,” metallurgical
additives, and fusible alloys
(USGS MCS 2026).
USGS does not publish an exact application-share breakdown for bismuth, but treats these commercial
uses as the bulk of apparent consumption, well above the ammunition/electronics defense niche.
1. Pharmaceuticals: bismuth subsalicylate and H. pylori quadruple therapy
Bismuth subsalicylate is the active ingredient in over-the-counter antidiarrheal and
gastrointestinal remedies sold under the Pepto-Bismol brand and generics, and in related compounds
used to treat burns and stomach ulcers
(USGS MCS 2026).
Clinically, bismuth compounds (bismuth subsalicylate, bismuth subcitrate, or bismuth potassium
citrate) are a core component of quadruple therapy for eradicating
Helicobacter pylori infection, typically combined with a proton-pump inhibitor,
tetracycline, and metronidazole over a 10–14-day course; the U.S. FDA-approved HELIDAC Therapy
regimen (bismuth subsalicylate, metronidazole, and tetracycline hydrochloride) is one such labeled
combination
(FDA label, HELIDAC Therapy).
Peer-reviewed clinical literature describes bismuth's mechanism as interfering with H. pylori
nickel homeostasis and inhibiting bacterial urease and protease activity
(Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, bioinorganic chemistry of bismuth).
5N Plus's Lübeck, Germany facility, which the company says supplies over 70% of the world's
bismuth chemicals, is FDA-approved and GMP-certified specifically to serve this pharmaceutical
supply chain
(5N Plus, 2025 Forced Labour Report).
Because this chain runs on Chinese-origin refined bismuth feedstock even when compounding happens in
Germany or elsewhere, the pharmaceutical channel was directly exposed to the 2025 price spike, and
USGS's substitutes list for pharmaceutical bismuth uses names only partial alternatives —
alumina, antibiotics, calcium carbonate, and magnesia — none of which replicate bismuth's
specific antimicrobial and mucosal-protective action
(USGS MCS 2026).
2. Low-melting fusible alloys: Field's metal, Rose's metal, and fire-safety triggers
Bismuth's own low melting point (271°C) is compounded further in eutectic alloys with tin,
indium, lead, or cadmium to create fusible alloys that melt at or near body
temperature to a few hundred degrees. Rose's metal (approximately 50% bismuth, 25%
lead, 25% tin) melts around 98–110°C, while Field's metal, a
non-toxic bismuth-indium-tin alloy formulated as a lead-free alternative, melts around 60°C
(144°F)
(Wikipedia, low-melting-point alloy reference table;
RotoMetals, Field's Metal product page).
These alloys are supplied commercially by firms such as Indium Corporation and Belmont Metals for
uses spanning lens-grinding chucks, tube-bending and metal-forming temporary fillers, well-plugging,
and soldering
(Indium Corporation, fusible alloys).
Their best-known safety application is as the triggering mechanism in automatic fire
sprinklers: a fusible bismuth-alloy link melts at a designed activation temperature to
release the sprinkler valve, a use USGS lists explicitly among bismuth's core applications and for
which the only substitute identified is glycerin-filled glass bulbs
(USGS MCS 2026).
3. Pigments: bismuth vanadate as the RoHS-era replacement for lead chromate
Bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄, Color Index Pigment Yellow 184) is a bright, opaque, greenish-yellow
inorganic pigment that has become the leading commercial replacement for lead chromate ("chrome
yellow") and lead-molybdate-chromate pigments in coatings, plastics, and inks. Technical data sheets
from major pigment producers — including Ferro's DCC Yellow bismuth vanadate range and Prince
(Bruchsaler Farben's Brufasol AL line) — market the pigment specifically as a lead-free,
cadmium-free alternative with excellent heat resistance (up to 200–280°C), light fastness,
and weather fastness, describing bismuth vanadate's ecotoxicological profile as “the best
substitute for yellow pigments containing lead”
(Bruchsaler Farben (Prince), Brufasol AL technical data;
DCC/pigments.com, Bismuth Vanadate PY.184 technical data sheet).
Ferro's technical literature documents continued R&D extending bismuth-based pigment chemistry
into the orange spectrum (bismuth oxyhalide, Pigment Orange 85) specifically to broaden the palette
of lead- and cadmium-free replacements available to the coatings industry
(Ferro, PCI Magazine, October 2021).
The regulatory driver is the EU's RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, which restricts lead
(along with mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and certain brominated flame retardants) to a
maximum concentration of 0.1% by weight in homogeneous materials in electrical and electronic
equipment, and the EU's End-of-Life Vehicles Directive framework applying similar lead limits to
automotive coatings and components
(Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS), consolidated text;
Commission Directive 2011/37/EU, End-of-Life Vehicles).
Market research estimates total EU consumption of bismuth vanadate yellow pigments at roughly
1,200–1,600 tonnes per year in 2026, valued at approximately €45–65 million at the
pigment level, with electronics and electrical equipment accounting for 500–700 tonnes of that
volume — directly the product category RoHS governs
(IndexBox, EU Bismuth Vanadate Yellow Pigments market analysis, 2026).
USGS's own substitutes list for bismuth pigment uses names only partial workarounds —
titanium-dioxide-coated mica flakes and fish-scale extracts — for pearlescent effects, not for
the opaque yellow/orange color space bismuth vanadate occupies
(USGS MCS 2026).
4. Recycling: a structurally thin secondary supply with no formal scrap channel
Unlike lead, copper, or precious metals, bismuth has no established, dedicated scrap-collection and
secondary-refining industry. USGS estimates that recycled bismuth-containing alloy scrap composed
up to 10% of U.S. apparent bismuth consumption for the years 2021–25 —
recovered incidentally as an alloying constituent within lead, solder, or fusible-alloy scrap
streams rather than through any bismuth-specific collection and refining system
(USGS MCS 2026).
There is no LME-listed bismuth scrap grade, no bismuth equivalent of lead-acid battery recycling
infrastructure, and no formal end-of-life collection stream for bismuth-bearing pharmaceuticals,
pigments, or low-melt alloys once they are dispersed into consumer products; secondary recovery that
does occur is a byproduct of lead and copper scrap smelting rather than a purpose-built bismuth
recycling loop. This structural gap means that, unlike some other critical minerals where recycling
is proposed as a near-term substitute for constrained primary supply, bismuth's 2025 price spike had
essentially no offsetting scrap-supply response available to the market.
Current status (July 2026):
Commercial demand from pharmaceuticals, fusible alloys, and bismuth vanadate pigments continues to
underpin baseline consumption even as defense/stockpile demand adds a new, separate buyer. EU RoHS
and end-of-life-vehicle lead restrictions remain a structural long-term driver for pigment
substitution toward bismuth vanadate; recycling remains a marginal, incidental supply source with
no dedicated bismuth scrap industry. Watch: EU RoHS Annex II exemption reviews,
further FDA bismuth-drug labeling actions, USGS's next estimate of bismuth's recycled-content share.