Rhodesian chrome embargo; Rhodesian chromite embargo and laundering

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MSE_F2017_01 · Materials Selection and Economics, Fall 2017 · §8.p3

Embargoes don't usually work, but forty or fifty years ago they had a civil war in Rhodesia, and Rhodesia has the world's best chromium ore. It is so good, so much better than anyone else's, anyone can tell if it came from Rhodesia because no one has anything this good anywhere else in the world. They put an embargo because they were having this civil war, and you were not supposed to be able to use Rhodesian chromite. So you'd buy your chromium ore from somewhere else, but where did they get it from? They got it from Rhodesia, and they were just passing it through. When it got to the steel mill they knew this was Rhodesian chromium ore, but according to the paperwork it came from another country. Most people will find a way around embargoes, and they rarely work.