Electronic materials producer Indium Corporation and mining giant Rio Tinto have successfully extracted gallium from feed sourced at Rio Tinto’s Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Saguenay, Quebec, Canada.

The companies are working to provide a strategic North American supply of the metal, which is used in EVs, semiconductors, integrated circuits, high-performance radar, smartphones, and laptops and is currently produced in limited quantities worldwide.

Indium designed and developed the gallium extraction process in the US at its research and development facility in Rome, NY. The company will continue to develop the extraction process at its R&D facility to meet the planned commercial scalability needs for a 3.5-ton demonstration plant that would be located in Saguenay, Quebec. It would eventually ramp up to a commercial-scale capacity of 40 tons annually.

“This is a major step forward in our joint efforts to create a new and robust supply of gallium,” said Ross Berntson, President and CEO of Indium. “Through this collaboration, we have demonstrated the viability of gallium extraction and laid the groundwork for commercial production to benefit industries worldwide.”

Source: Indium Corporation