[bell-cot]

Hmm. Magnesium is anything but scarce -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium#Occurrence

OTOH, it's not used in huge quantities (vs. oil, coal, iron, etc.) - so it seem plausible that China could kinda corner the market. At a reasonable cost (for them). Especially if they're the ~only country bothering to run a strategy...

[baybal2]

Energy is scarce though. Only Chinese smelters have dolomite based production, which is much cheaper than bruteforce electrolysis.

[bell-cot]

I sense something else going on here. The mineral dolomite is hardly scarce, and the Pigeon Process (to produce magnesium from dolomite) was invented in Canada in the 1940's.

[baybal2]

High quality magnesite, magnesia, and dolomites are scarce, but central China is one big slab of them.

[s1artibartfast]

They already have the market cornered. They produce over 90% of the global supply.