Who asked for the black mass and tungsten scrap export restrictions

In May 2025 the Bureau of Industry and Security asked the public what to do about imports of processed critical minerals, and 224 parties answered on docket BIS-2025-0025.

On 2026-08-27 a different instrument took effect: a Defense Production Act allocation order that keeps black mass and tungsten waste and scrap inside the United States unless BIS authorizes an export.

This page sets what the filers asked for beside what the order did, one filer at a time. The docket belongs to the Section 232 investigation; the order rests on a different authority.

What 30 filers asked for

Across 30 of the 224 filings:

• Two asked for something very close to the rule they got. These were Nth Cycle on black mass and Buffalo Tungsten on tungsten scrap. Both wrote about imports, to a different docket, fifteen months earlier.
• Eight asked for an exclusion or exemption process before one existed. The order now has one: a written request to BIS, with a stated 14-day response target.
• Seven asked for export controls on recovered materials. Between them they named four: copper scrap, stainless and nickel-bearing scrap, aluminum scrap and used beverage cans, and heavy-rare-earth magnet scrap. None of the four is in the order.
• One asked for black mass exports to stay open. Blue Whale Materials asked that export to free-trade partners and non-FEOC countries continue. It is the only filer in that position, and the order went the other way.
• One told Commerce which code its hard scrap moves under. The order does not name that code. The 8113.00.00 page has the figures.

Ten of the thirty rows

Filer	Comment	Asked for, May 2025	The order, 2026-08-27
Nth Cycle	0206	Amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 “to prohibit black mass exports”	Got it, on a different authority
Buffalo Tungsten	0183	Said Chinese buyers were bidding US tungsten scrap away for export	Got it: 8101.97.00.00 restricted
Plansee USA	0164	Recognize and exempt 8113.00.00, the code it names for tungsten hard scrap	Code not named
Kennametal	0176	Listed 8113.00 as cermets including waste and scrap, and asked that it stay restricted	Code not named
Copper Development Association	0041	A “100% export ban” on named grades of high-purity US-origin copper scrap	Copper scrap not covered
Outokumpu Stainless USA	0130	A stainless scrap export licensing system, if the EU and UK restrict first	Stainless scrap not covered
Alliance for Mineral Security	0061	Restrict magnet scrap exports; regulate black mass and battery waste exports	Black mass yes, magnet scrap no
Blue Whale Materials	0124	Keep black mass export to free-trade partners and non-FEOC countries open	Overridden
Industrial Fasteners Institute	0114	“All Section 232 Orders Need a Workable Exclusion Process” — its own section heading	An exception route now exists
Johnson Matthey	0070	Keep PGMs out of any Section 232 action. Says it sends US-arising iridium and ruthenium scrap abroad to refine	Not covered

Who did not file

No recycling trade association filed on this docket. That includes the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), formerly ISRI, whose members sell recovered material abroad. ReMA has argued against scrap export restrictions in other proceedings, including a Section 232 docket on copper.

So this docket holds mostly one side of the export argument.

What the order does

From 2026-08-27, black mass (Schedule B 8549.13.00.00, 8549.14.00.00 and 8549.19.00.00) and tungsten waste and scrap (Schedule B 8101.97.00.00) must stay physically in the United States unless BIS authorizes otherwise. A US seller must allocate 100 percent of monthly sales to US persons unless BIS grants an adjustment or exception in advance.

The order runs to 2027-08-27, and comments on it close on 2026-11-04. The exception route and the comment deadline are on their own page.

This page does not say whether the order applies to any firm or shipment.