Chain
Gallium Refining
High-purity refining upgrades primary low-purity gallium (and reprocessed new scrap) to the 6N-8N metal that crystal growth and precursor synthesis require - the first midstream stage of the gallium chain.
Stage diagram
US high-purity refining runs through a single New York company working from imported low-purity metal and new scrap (USGS MCS 2026, Gallium chapter, p. 82); with no domestic primary recovery since 1987, every kilogram of US high-purity output depends on imported or recycled feed.
Materials at this stage: Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium, High-Purity Gallium
Facility-line flow trace
| Facility / line | Location | Stage and derived state | Input → output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Alumina Gramercy gallium pilot | Gramercy, Louisiana | Byproduct recovery Announced | Bayer Process Liquor (Gallium-Bearing) → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| ElementUS Gramercy demonstration facility | Gramercy, Louisiana | Byproduct recovery Announced | Bayer Process Liquor (Gallium-Bearing) → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Found Energy Charleston gallium pilot | Charlestown, Massachusetts | Byproduct recovery Announced | Bayer Process Liquor (Gallium-Bearing) → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Indium Corporation Clinton gallium recycling pilot | Clinton, New York | Recycling Announced | Gallium-Bearing New Scrap → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Indium Corporation Rome metals operation | Rome, New York | High purity refining | Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium → High-Purity Gallium |
| Indium Corporation Utica metals operation | Utica, New York | High purity refining | Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium → High-Purity Gallium |
| Kunin Technologies Chattanooga gallium pilot | Chattanooga, Tennessee | Recycling Announced | Gallium-Bearing New Scrap → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Kyma Technologies Raleigh gallium-nitride substrate operation | Raleigh, North Carolina | Crystal substrate | High-Purity Gallium → Gallium Nitride Bulk Crystal, Gallium Nitride Wafer |
| Nouryon La Porte high-purity metalorganics plant | La Porte, Texas | Compound chemicals | High-Purity Gallium → Trimethylgallium (TMG) |
| Alcoa Wagerup gallium project | Wagerup, Western Australia | Byproduct recovery Announced | Bayer Process Liquor (Gallium-Bearing) → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Rio Tinto Vaudreuil gallium demonstration | Saguenay, Quebec | Byproduct recovery Announced | Bayer Process Liquor (Gallium-Bearing) → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Teck Trail Operations strategic-metals lines | Trail, British Columbia | Byproduct recovery Announced | Polymetallic smelter process stream → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Freiberger Compound Materials Freiberg wafer plant | Freiberg, Saxony | Crystal substrate | High-Purity Gallium → Gallium Arsenide Bulk Crystal, Gallium Arsenide Wafer |
| Umicore Hanau metalorganic precursor plant | Hanau, Hesse | Compound chemicals | High-Purity Gallium → Trimethylgallium (TMG) |
| METLEN Agios Nikolaos gallium project | Agios Nikolaos, Central Greece | Byproduct recovery Announced | Bayer Process Liquor (Gallium-Bearing) → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Akita Rare Metals gallium and germanium operation | Akita, Akita | Recycling | Gallium-Bearing New Scrap → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
| Sumiden Semiconductor Materials Itami substrate plant | Itami, Hyogo | Crystal substrate | High-Purity Gallium → Gallium Arsenide Bulk Crystal, Gallium Arsenide Wafer |
| Korea Zinc Onsan gallium and germanium projects | Onsan, Ulsan | Byproduct recovery Announced | Polymetallic smelter process stream → Crude (Low-Purity) Gallium |
Sources
- U.S. Geological Survey · published Feb 1, 2026 · retrieved Aug 15, 2026 · archive unavailable: Wayback capture queued at record creation 2026-08-15; archive verification deferred to a weekly pass