Chain

Germanium

Germanium is a byproduct metal recovered from the residues of zinc smelting and from recycled optical and electronic scrap, then refined and converted into dioxide, tetrachloride for optical fiber, and crystals, wafers, and infrared-optics blanks. This chain traces germanium from host streams to the last germanium-defined products; solar-cell, camera, and fiber manufacture are customers.

Facts on this page last re-verified Aug 15, 2026 — the oldest verification date among its current claims. How we verify.

Stage diagram

Primary germanium reaches covered jurisdictions through a handful of zinc operations - Red Dog concentrates feed the Trail, British Columbia refinery, while the suspended Tennessee mine that fed Clarksville left US primary refinery production at zero for 2021-2025 - and most world producers do not report output, leaving global data limited (USGS MCS 2026, Germanium chapter, pp. 88-89). Recovery circuits at allied zinc smelters are the binding constraint.

Materials at this stage: Zinc-Process Germanium-Bearing Residues, Germanium-Bearing Scrap, Germanium Leach Concentrate

Facility-line flow trace

Facility / line	Location	Stage and derived state	Input → output
5N Plus St. George germanium refinery Germanium zone-refining line	St. George, Utah United States	High purity refining Operating	Germanium Leach Concentrate → Refined Germanium Metal
Indium Corporation Rome metals operation Germanium pure-metal line	Rome, New York United States	High purity refining Operating	Germanium Leach Concentrate → Refined Germanium Metal
Lattice Materials Bozeman germanium plant Germanium scrap-to-metal line	Bozeman, Montana United States	Recycling Announced	Germanium-Bearing Scrap → Refined Germanium Metal
Umicore Quapaw germanium materials plant Germanium recycling line	Quapaw, Oklahoma United States	Recycling Operating	Germanium-Bearing Scrap → Refined Germanium Metal
Umicore Quapaw germanium materials plant Germanium zone-refining line	Quapaw, Oklahoma United States	High purity refining Operating	Germanium Leach Concentrate → Refined Germanium Metal
Nyrstar Hobart proposed germanium recovery Proposed germanium recovery line	Hobart, Tasmania Australia	Byproduct recovery Announced	Zinc-Process Germanium-Bearing Residues → Germanium Leach Concentrate
Umicore Olen germanium complex Germanium recycling and refining line	Olen, Antwerp Belgium	Recycling Operating	Germanium-Bearing Scrap → Refined Germanium Metal
Teck Trail Operations strategic-metals lines Trail germanium recovery line	Trail, British Columbia Canada	Byproduct recovery Operating	Zinc-Process Germanium-Bearing Residues → Germanium Leach Concentrate
STL Big Hill germanium recovery plant Big Hill germanium recovery line	Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga Democratic Republic of the Congo	Byproduct recovery Operating	Zinc-Process Germanium-Bearing Residues → Germanium Leach Concentrate
Akita Rare Metals gallium and germanium operation Germanium recycling line	Akita, Akita Japan	Recycling Operating	Germanium-Bearing Scrap → Refined Germanium Metal
Korea Zinc Onsan gallium and germanium projects Onsan germanium-dioxide line	Onsan, Ulsan South Korea	Byproduct recovery Announced	Zinc-Process Germanium-Bearing Residues → Germanium Dioxide

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