In Chios Island, Greece, at a seaside bar, owner Sotiris Theodorou sits in the outdoor area, basking in the winter sun. He tells the Epoch Times reporter, “Two stories are unfolding here.”
“We are about a mile away from the small village of Volissos, and according to some legends, this is the birthplace of the ancient Greek poet Homer.”
Theodorou is a rare and elusive figure. Difficult to find due to the only access being by boat or a treacherous mountain road, he has unexpectedly become a key figure in the future dispute over Chios Island.
With shimmering blue eyes, Theodorou explains that one of the stories revolves around “Europe’s need for antimony and other raw materials as China has cut off the supply of these materials.” He refers to the recent Chinese regime’s pressure on key mineral exports and a controversial plan to mine antimony in northern Chios Island (currently on hold).
Antimony is essential for defense, artificial intelligence, and “green” technology, and with Western countries seeking to reduce dependence on China (which has controlled nearly 90% of production for decades), the demand for such metals is significant.
While the US and Europe are investing billions to increase domestic antimony and other critical mineral production, there is currently no viable large-scale antimony mine in the US or Europe.
Greece has vast untapped mineral resources, making it an attractive exploration frontier.
Theodorou tells another story, about a devastating fire. This fire ravaged nearly 30,000 acres of pristine land in the northern part of Chios Island during the summer, burning mountaintops, villages, and a series of terraced olive groves.
Most of the areas devastated by the fire overlap with the proposed antimony industrial area and a nature protection area. Since 1996, most of the northern part of the island has been designated as a protected “Natura 2000” conservation area by the European Union.
Just months before the fire, an unlikely opposition movement successfully forced the government to halt the proposal, led by Theodorou and a few residents of remote, sparsely populated villages.
“The government thought they were ready to start mining, and then we started raising our voices,” he remarked.
Thousands of people, as well as major industry groups and businesses on the island, signed a petition against mining.
Theodorou now worries that the losses caused by the fire, coupled with what he describes as the negligence of the local authorities — “the planes didn’t come, the firefighters did nothing” — will make it easier for the project to restart in the face of community opposition.
Local officials did not respond to inquiries from the Epoch Times about antimony mining or fire response.
With Europe seeking to reduce dependence on China for imports and expand mineral extraction to achieve its 2050 carbon neutrality goal, interest in mineral development in the Mediterranean region is only growing.
Greece possesses abundant critical mineral resources, including gallium, bauxite, germanium, and potential rare earth production, positioning it to become a production powerhouse in this era.
According to the International Energy Agency in Paris, demand for critical minerals is expected to double by 2030 and triple or quadruple by 2050.
These minerals are essential for various sectors, from bullets to cars, renewable energy to smartphones and computers. Meanwhile, China has weaponized its near-complete monopoly on mineral processing and aggressively promotes the global “green” agenda, positioning itself as an indispensable supplier.
As tensions escalate between the West and China in a new cold war, the race to locate, extract, and process these materials will increasingly unfold in forgotten corners of the earth, such as Chios Island. There, the need for national security conflicts with environmental concerns.
Mining was once the powerhouse of ancient Greece. Historically, the Athenians extracted silver from the rich mines near the port of Lavrio, solidifying their naval dominance. This maritime supremacy is considered crucial to the rise of Western civilization.
On the ruins of these endeavors stand remnants of past revivals, with abandoned 19th and 20th-century factories, shafts, and intricate tunnels.
Elsewhere is populated with stark examples of modern failures, where once-profitable enterprises ultimately became permanent symbols of poor government management.
In central Greece, an abandoned smelting plant still looms atop the rock formations along the Aegean Sea coast. This smelting facility was operated for decades by Larco, Europe’s largest nickel producer. After experiencing worsening financial struggles for thirty years, the state-owned company went bankrupt in 2020, burdened with enormous debts.
According to a recent study by the Center for Liberal Studies in Athens, from 1989 to 2019, Larco cost Greek taxpayers around €5.77 billion (at 2015 constant prices). The European Commission stated that hundreds of millions of euros of “illegal state aid” barely sustained the company’s operations but failed to prevent the inevitable collapse of the state-owned company.
As multinational mining operations expand nationwide, Greece faces a new warfare: externally, combating China’s malevolent control over future technologies and internally, a struggle over the utilization of domestic natural resources, including minerals, beaches, and forests.
Transitioning to “clean” technology often brings new ecological challenges; much like many extractive industries dominated by China, antimony mining is notorious for severe pollution.
On Chios Island, the abandoned antimony mines left behind by past generations have left lingering and disconcerting detrimental effects.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has emphasized the threat of China’s market manipulation to national security and has taken measures such as trade policies, funding production companies, and initiating the $12 billion Project Vault for critical mineral reserves.
“The CCP is trying to cut off our supply of critical minerals, an economic warfare against the United States and a threat to global supply chains,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP, following Trump’s announcement of Project Vault in early February.
In 2025, this special committee released an investigation entitled “Bipartisan Investigation Reveals How the CCP Manipulates the Critical Minerals Market,” exposing how China exploits its control of the mineral market through state subsidies, zero-rated loans to support global acquisitions, price manipulation to safeguard national security interests, and acquisition and dominance of global supply chains.
Europe finds itself in a similar predicament to the US, potentially more severe, as it pursues ambitious climate and energy agendas. While seeking further cooperation with China on climate-related goals, Europe has also launched strategic plans and funding to diversify its energy supply.
However, a report by the European Court of Auditors titled “Critical Raw Materials for the Energy Transition – Not a Rock-Solid Policy” released in February 2026 pointed out that these efforts have achieved virtually no tangible results so far.
The auditors noted that despite recent legislation setting strategic directions, the goals lack justification, and diversification measures have not addressed bottlenecks in domestic production and recycling. High energy costs in Europe and lack of advanced processing technologies further hinder competitiveness.
Most strategic projects are unlikely to secure the EU’s supply by 2030, per the report.
Across Europe, “lengthy and complex approval processes remain a significant bottleneck,” the report added, including environmental and social factors.
In Greece, this situation stands out, with strong opposition from local communities and laws against mining projects.
Other projects, such as the Eldorado Gold Corporation’s open-pit gold mine operation in Greece’s north, face strong opposition and turmoil due to environmental and social impacts. The company’s copper-gold mine near Chios has been delayed for years due to issues like toxic dust, archaeological site destruction, and deforestation. The mine is set to achieve commercial production in mid-2026.
The European Commission recently clarified regulations allowing mining permits in “Natura 2000” areas, such as the northern region of Chios Island, to proceed through strict assessments for projects deemed beneficial to the “overriding public interest” or with no alternative.
Europe’s efforts to secure stable energy supply are just beginning. Small-scale skirmishes like those on Chios Island signal how future games will play out between ecological conservation, national security, and energy sovereignty.
Over the past few years, antimony has leaped into the spotlight of the mineral race, with the US and EU pouring billions to boost domestic critical mineral production.
As retired Navy Admiral Peter J. Brown, who served as Trump’s Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser, wrote in a recent article in The Defense Post titled “Our Military Runs on Minerals: Secure Them Before China Seizes Them,” “Not all minerals are created equal.”
He believes that the economic and military competitions of the next century will be shaped by a few materials that have become indispensable in the information age, including copper, lithium, cobalt, and antimony.
Brown noted, “Ensuring the supply of these critical minerals is essential to securing the energy, storage, and operational capabilities needed for new technologies.”
Antimony is particularly crucial for defense and the “green energy” industry – from armor-piercing rounds, precision optical devices, and infrared sensors, to batteries, semiconductors, and solar panels, among others.
According to several academic predictions, at the current production rate, antimony is expected to become one of the rarest metals by 2050.
In Greece, antimony is referred to as antimónio in modern Greek, a fitting etymology as the word comprises “anti” (against) and “monos” (alone), implying “not alone”; and this lustrous metal often coexists with other elements, usually extracted from the toxic stibnite ore.
Human use of antimony dates back thousands of years, with ancient civilizations using it in pottery, metal alloys, cosmetics – notably, the ancient Egyptians used it for black eye makeup – and later in medicine.
For centuries, some of the toxic effects of antimony have been known. Starting from the Middle Ages, it was considered a highly toxic panacea – small doses were used as a purgative and to treat melancholia – with some, including British science writer John Emsley, suggesting that Austrian classical composer Wolfgang Mozart might have accidentally died from antimony poisoning.
However, in the 20th century, the dangers of industrial exposure became clear.
At the top of the mountain road leading from Volissos to the abandoned antimony mine in Kramos, a burnt sign – perhaps once indicating a dizzying elevation – is spray-painted with a simple protest: “No Mining.”
In the lush gorges near the Kramos mountain village on Chios Island, there are stone ruins of a 19th-century mining settlement bearing similarly rough red admonishments.
A plaque near a small chapel cemetery memorializes 24 miners who died there from diseases or accidents related to antimony. But according to an article published in the Greek mining journal “Oryktologica NEA” in 2020, many more were affected by toxic exposure.
Some elderly residents of nearby villages recall the days their fathers or grandfathers experienced, mentioning that officials took almost no measures to ensure such incidents wouldn’t recur.
In a coffee shop in Volissos, local resident Nikos Mixalakis, while enjoying his morning cigarette and a glass of local moonshine tsipouro, expressed frustration over the lack of information. “Many people died when they were mining for antimony,” he said. “The fact is, antimony did us no good. If they were working there, we would all get sick. Everything living would die – everything living would die.”
Theodorou pointed out that Greece has other mining projects, including a thriving gold industry, stating, “Antimony mining is a hundred times worse than this. It’s like cancer, a disaster for nature, animals, and humans; no one can survive after being exposed to it.”
He noted that even the US has ceased production of this product.
In fact, the US was almost entirely self-reliant on producing this mineral in the past. However, since the stricter environmental regulations implemented in the 1970s, antimony production has been declining. The last large mine in the US – the antimony mines in Idaho – closed in the late 1990s. The Perpetua Resources mining company, which owns the mine, reopened it in September 2025, planning to extract gold and antimony. However, due to environmental concerns, the project’s reopening faced opposition in court.
Since the last mining operation in Kramos mine, mining methods have evolved, and technological breakthroughs are expected to revolutionize extraction methods and reduce environmental impact.
However, antimony is considered one of the most poisonous heavy metals, and when co-occurring with lead, arsenic, and other metals, it can cause severe health issues, including silicosis, heart and gastrointestinal diseases, and even cancer and developmental disorders. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have shown that in the world’s largest stibnite reserves in China, environmental and human health have been adversely affected.
Although antimony naturally occurs in rocks, mining, smelting, and related industrial emissions significantly increase its concentration and mobility. This leads to water contamination and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in crops.
Heavy metals are known to bring not only acute risks but also cumulative risks, persisting long after mining stops, and spreading up the food chain.
Recent studies suggest that metals involved in antimony mining exhibit chronic toxicity and potential carcinogenicity, especially when these elements flow into groundwater, posing a range of risks to residents through skin contact and consumption of contaminated water.
As for Chios Island, government officials have pledged stringent environmental controls for any exploration or development activities.
Several Greek companies, including TERNA, Heracles Group, Gaia Meleton, and Geotest Chionis, that participated in the 2025 tender and submitted bids did not respond to inquiries from the Epoch Times.
Local officials, including the mayor and city council president of Chios, have not responded to multiple requests regarding the proposed antimony mining project.
Compared to other islands in Greece, Chios Island’s economy is relatively underdeveloped.
It is the only place in the world where the “Chios mastic” or “mastic gum,” a resin collected from a Mediterranean shrub, has been produced for thousands of years and used as a universal remedy. Additionally, Chios Island has maintained a thriving tourism industry, yet unlike other islands, it has not been eroded by all-encompassing large-scale development projects.
Costas Moundros, chairman of the Chios Tourism Organization, told the Epoch Times, “So far, this has created a ‘balanced and sustainable’ pattern.”
“Chios Island’s two main industries are maritime activities and mastic production, forming the foundation of the island’s economy and cultural identity. These industries are the main drivers of economic growth,” he stated.
He mentioned that initiatives like antimony extraction represent a “significant shift” that could have far-reaching impacts.
“The country has essentially exposed citizens to a new reality that may alter the island’s social, environmental, and economic landscape,” Moundros said.
“This was never consulted, there was no public dialogue, and no transparent assessment of potential risks and benefits.”
Environmental organizations, including the Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, opposed the proposed mining project last year, stating that it posed a serious threat to the designated Natura 2000 conservation area and also threatened the health of surrounding communities and mastic agricultural production.
Following criticism of an “authoritarian and unilateral” public relations campaign, public opinion erupted, leading to a public consultation period where scientists, cultural organizations, and other stakeholders offered their opinions.
Local lawyer Panos Lazaratos has submitted petitions to reverse the project. At a public forum in April 2025, he emphasized that residents have ample legal grounds. However, he stressed that the battle is far from over.
By the end of 2025, when asked about the temporary halt to the mining project, municipal officials at the Chios City Hall shrugged. “It’s just temporary,” a municipal official told the Epoch Times. “It will start again.”
Theodorou said, “Our community is united, determined to protect this small island from what we believe could cause irreversible environmental and public health damage.”
He expressed, “We need help…but we don’t want help from the government.”
Pointing to the terraced forests, stone structures, and spectacular beaches surrounding Volissos, Theodorou lamented, “They want to turn this into a ghost town.”
He speculated that other sparsely populated villages may not resist as fiercely.