Gallium, indium and germanium are unusual metals and none of them come from mines of their own. They are recovered only in tiny amounts when other minerals are processed, which means their supply depends on decisions made in entirely different parts of the mining industry.
In mining, the word "byproduct" rarely turns heads. But for metals like gallium, indium and germanium, it determines their entire fate. These materials don’t occur in the Earth’s crust in concentrated deposits that justify standalone mining. Instead, they appear only in trace amounts and are recovered during the processing of other ores.
Gallium, for example, is mainly tied to aluminium production. Bauxite usually contains just 20–80 ppm of gallium. About 70 per cent dissolves into the Bayer liquor when bauxite is digested to make alumina, gradually building up to 100–300 ppm through recycling of the liquor. Whatever doesn’t dissolve ends up in red mud. Despite this, no gallium mines exist, because geology simply doesn’t allow viable gallium-rich ore bodies to form.
So even though gallium prices have risen nearly fivefold since 2016, its production still depends on how much aluminium and zinc ore the world decides to extract—not on the metal’s own rising value.
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China’s tight grip on supply
All three metals share another critical feature: one country dominates their global output.
This leaves most industrial nations heavily import-dependent. The United States, as an example, imports 100 per cent of its gallium and indium needs, and roughly half of its germanium. Prices for indium and germanium have more than doubled since 2016, underscoring market tightness.
Recycling helps a little but nowhere near enough to ease dependence. Governments have begun encouraging new domestic mining of critical minerals, though most of that effort centres on rare earths rather than the zinc and aluminium ores that actually govern supplies of these three byproduct metals.
What makes the situation more troubling is that the global electronics industry relies on them extensively—and switching technologies would require years and major capital reinvestment. Manufacturers are unlikely to walk away from current production lines anytime soon.
Also read: Inside the global race for gallium: The metal behind America’s military edge
Why aluminium recycling makes Gallium scarcity worse
There’s an added complication: the global push to recycle more aluminium. While good for energy savings and emissions, it unintentionally tightens gallium supply.
Secondary aluminium contains less than 1 ppm of gallium, far below the 20–80 ppm found in bauxite. More recycled metal in the system means fewer opportunities to extract gallium from the Bayer process, which currently provides roughly 90 per cent of the world’s primary gallium.
Recycling bypasses the Bayer circuit entirely, so gallium isn’t recovered at all. As secondary aluminium grows as a share of supply, the availability of byproduct gallium shrinks. Alternatives such as extracting gallium from zinc residues, coal fly ash, or smelting dust are being explored, but volumes are small and require new processing infrastructure.
Without a shift in how these byproduct metals are sourced, a supply crunch seems less like a risk and more like an eventuality.
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