ReMA in Talks With Administration Over Black Mass, Tungsten Export Controls

The Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) is in active discussions with the administration over export controls on black mass and tungsten, two commodity streams now sitting at the intersection of recycling and national minerals policy.

Robin Wiener, the association's president, addressed the topic in remarks that confirmed ReMA's ongoing engagement with federal officials. The association, she indicated, continues to work with the administration on practical solutions to trade policy — while acknowledging that the White House's attention is fixed firmly on critical minerals and materials.

That single framing carries weight. Black mass — the shredded output of spent lithium-ion batteries, rich in nickel, cobalt and lithium — has become one of the most contested materials in the recycling trade. Tungsten, a hard metal with defense and industrial applications, occupies similar territory. Both now answer to a policy logic that treats recycled feedstock less as waste management and more as a domestic supply question.

Why export controls matter to processors

Export restrictions on black mass would redirect material toward domestic hydrometallurgical capacity, whether that capacity exists or not. For battery recyclers and traders, the difference between a controlled and an uncontrolled commodity determines routing, contracting and pricing across the entire chain, from collection agreements to offtake.

Tungsten scrap follows a different but related logic. The metal sits on critical minerals lists in Washington, and scrap is a meaningful share of global tungsten supply. Controls on its export would tighten the domestic loop for a material the administration has flagged as strategically important.

The association's position, as Wiener laid it out, is not opposition but negotiation. ReMA wants workable rules. It recognizes the policy momentum behind critical minerals and is shaping its advocacy around that reality rather than against it.

What 'practical solutions' signals

The phrase is doing quiet work. In trade association language, a call for practical solutions typically means the current arrangements — or the proposals under discussion — create friction that members feel on the ground: licensing burdens, unclear classifications, or timelines that outpace available processing capacity.

ReMA represents processors across metals, paper, plastics and electronics. Its engagement on black mass and tungsten places the recycled materials sector inside a conversation that has historically centered on mining output and primary production. Recycled feedstock is being treated as part of the minerals security portfolio. That is a structural shift, not a rhetorical one.

The stakes for domestic capacity

Any export control regime on black mass will test whether announced domestic processing capacity matches the tonnage currently moving overseas. Controls announced ahead of capacity built are one thing; controls enforced after capacity is commissioned are another. The sequencing decides who captures the material and at what price.

Wiener's comments do not resolve that sequencing question. They confirm that the association is at the table while the rules are being written, rather than reacting after the fact.

What comes next

The milestone to watch is the administration's actual determination on black mass and tungsten export controls — which agency writes the rule, which classifications it covers, and what compliance deadline it sets. Until that filing appears, ReMA's discussions remain advocacy in progress, and the trade flows continue under current rules.

The material stream is waiting on paperwork.