The US has imposed a one-year ban on the export of tungsten scrap and “black matter“, a by-product of battery recycling, according to the Financial Times (FT).
The US Bureau of Industry and Security has announced a one-year ban on the export of “black matter“, a by-product of battery recycling, as well as tungsten scrap used in defense supply chains. Under the new rules, these materials can only be sold to US customers without special permission.
Tungsten, used in munitions, is becoming increasingly scarce due to global rearmament, international conflicts and Chinese export restrictions. Its prices rose sharply in 2026. There are no operating tungsten mines in the US, but there are scrap processing plants, although experts believe their capacity is insufficient to fully process all the scrap into finished products.
“Black mass“ typically contains lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite. However, the US has limited processing capacity, and most of this raw material is sent to Asia for processing.