Chinese Court Convicts 27 for Smuggling Critical Metal Antimony

A Chinese court has convicted 27 people for smuggling antimony ingots out of the country without export permits, in a symbolic case highlighting Beijing’s determination to tighten its grip on strategic minerals.

The main defendant was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 1 million yuan ($142,000), according to a statement on Tuesday on the official WeChat account of the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. The others were fined and handed jail terms of between four months and five years.