Грустный оффтоп.
Вот у людей сюжетные воронки, а у меня воронка матчасти)) Беседа случайно на эту тему вырулила, ну а чего бы не воспользоваться:
"Steel is cheap. Tungsten is expensive and comes from China. (The USA doesn't have a single tungsten mine, and 99% of the world's supply of tungsten metal is controlled by China.) That's
a problem if you're looking to use the stuff. It wasn't so much of a problem 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago, but it's a problem now. America doesn't produce any tantalum, either. Most tantalum metal also comes from China. And it's very expensive. (We needed tantalum
foil and wires for an experiment, and a rather small quantity -- enough to make maybe 50 160gr. bullets -- was around $500.)"

Тут я порадовался, что хронология у меня попадает как раз на те самые "10 лет" и начал думать варианты решения проблемы. Мне вот что посоветовали:"Mining's too tough. Hell, because of all of the laws and regulations in the USA, mining is basically illegal.

Best bet would be to work with neutral third-party suppliers in Thailand, or Mongolia, or Kazakhstan. I'd bet that they get their stuff from China much of the time, but I would also suppose that, even if that is the case, there's less political risk when the transaction is handled by an intermediary. This way, your characters won't need to rely on Chinese suppliers directly, and also won't need to engage in getting their hands dirty with smuggling. Besides, all of the
three countries I've mentioned are strong at mining and metals processing. Weaker than China, of course, but still strong..."

Сижу и думаю единственную мысль - это вам не мифрил в Эреборе копать...