During the minor metals manufacturing from refractory metal suppliers, the main downstream products of rare earths, the main products in the small metal industry, are catalysts, permanent magnets and glass, which account for 21%, 18% and 16% of the demand for rare earths, respectively. The downstream products of tungsten are mainly hard alloy, alloy steel and tungsten, whose demand for tungsten accounts for 52%, 30% and 13% respectively. Molybdenum is mainly used in construction steel, stainless steel, catalyst and chemical industry and tool steel and other fields, among which the former two demand for molybdenum accounted for more than 60% of the total market demand for molybdenum. In addition, antimony is mainly used in flame retardant, tin is mainly used in solder, indium is mainly used in indium tin, and germanium is mainly used in PET, optical fiber and infrared optics, not mainly used in aluminum alloy, casting and steel making desulfurization and other fields.
Minor metal elements are widely used in industry due to their excellent physical and chemical properties and electrical properties. Because of their characteristics of "few, small, fine and wide", they are called modern "vitamins of industry".
Minor metals are closely related to the development of modern high and new technology, especially widely used in the military field. It can be said that without them, even if the technology is advanced, it is difficult to produce advanced weapons and equipment.