Chinese mineral restrictions spur Australia to scavenge waste for new sources of chipmaking materials — country turns to mining waste for rare earths

Australian scientists are exploring ways to extract rare earth metals, like gallium and germanium, more efficiently from mining waste. These are crucial in semiconductor manufacturing and are currently primarily sourced from China. However, the East Country is tightening export controls on these materials, and the U.S. and its allies are getting worried about the security of their semiconductor supply chains, says Nikkei Asia.

China currently owns 90% of the global gallium market and 60% of germanium, giving the country sway over these minerals required to produce advanced electronics. While there are other sources for these materials from American allies or non-aligned countries, China has a technological advantage over them. It could produce these minerals at a much higher purity and lower comparable cost, thus making it harder for everyone else to compete.

So, to help address this issue, Australia, through the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is looking for ways to extract these two minerals from its current mining operations. Refining alumina (or aluminum oxide) from bauxite ore produces gallium, while zinc refining also outputs germanium.

The land down under briefly produced gallium in the early 90s, but the operation didn’t last because of a lack of demand. However, the market is totally different 30 years later, with the world now having an insatiable demand for the latest, more powerful chips. While we don’t expect these zinc and bauxite refineries to completely switch over to producing these rare earth metals, they could gain an additional revenue stream by investing in the required technologies to produce them.

Australia currently has five active alumina refineries, with one more having suspended operations earlier this year. It’s also the third-largest zinc exporter globally, which puts the country in a position to invest in technologies that would allow it to harvest rare earth metals from its existing operations.

Aside from giving the U.S. and its allies an alternative source to China, such development would also allow Australia to extract more materials from its mining and refining operations. Extracting more usable material would allow us to extract more minerals from the same amount of ore, reducing waste and increasing the overall value of the mine.