Rio Tinto and Indium Corporation have successfully extracted the first primary gallium as part of a research and development project aimed at producing commercial quantities of this critical mineral from bauxite processed at Rio Tinto’s Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Quebec — the only one of its kind in Canada.
Gallium is employed in advanced technologies, including high-performance semiconductors and power electronics found in electric vehicles (EVs), where its properties facilitate efficient energy conversion and thermal management.
As global EV production expands, gallium’s role in supporting power electronics makes it increasingly relevant to automotive supply chains.
This initial step was completed at Indium Corporation’s R&D facility in Rome, New York. The next phase will assess extraction techniques at pilot scale, to produce larger quantities of gallium. If successful, Rio Tinto plans to build a demonstration plant in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, supported by the Quebec government, with a production capacity of up to 3.5 tonnes annually. A full-scale facility could raise this to 40 tonnes per year, representing up to 10% of current global gallium output.
Primary gallium is produced in limited quantities globally, estimated at only 600 metric tonnes per year, and not currently sourced from North America. Its integration into sectors such as semiconductors, communications, and EVs makes the development of local supply an important step toward regional supply chain resilience.
In addition to aluminium, copper, iron ore, and titanium dioxide, Rio Tinto also produces critical minerals in North America such as scandium for lightweight alloys, tellurium for solar panels, lithium for EV batteries, and molybdenum for steel applications.
The company continues to explore opportunities to extract new materials from existing operations to support the energy transition and advanced manufacturing industries.
Filed Under: Batteries, Technology News