What are the key supply-demand dynamics and price drivers for cesium metal and cesium salts?

What are the key supply-demand dynamics and price drivers for cesium metal and cesium salts?
Cesium is a strategic metal with an opaque, near-closed market, making price tracking difficult. The US is 100% import-dependent, and global commercial production is concentrated in just a few pegmatite mines, with Tanco in Canada and Bikita in Zimbabwe being the most significant. One company controls over 80% of global pollucite resources and cesium salt production capacity, effectively holding a monopoly. Prices for high-purity cesium metal have shown modest increases, with 99.8% purity offered at $63 per gram and 99.98% at $81.10. Downstream demand is driven by cesium formate for high-pressure, high-temperature oil and gas drilling, and cesium isotopes for atomic clocks in GPS and telecommunications. The market is characterized by high barriers to entry and strategic importance, having been added to the USGS critical commodities list in 2018.