Information Centerof Ministry of Landand Resources

Supply and Demand of
Lithium and GalliumImprint
Authors:

Cui Rongguo, Guo Juan, Yin Liwen (ICMLR)
Dieter Huy, Maren Liedtke (BGR)

Contact:

Information Center of Ministry of Land and Resources (ICMLR)
No. 64, Funeidajie Street
100812 Bejing
rgcui@infomail.mlr.gov.cn
Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources
Stilleweg 230655 Hannover
dieter.huy@bgr.de

Layout:Jolante Duba

Edition dated:

May 2016

ISBN:

978-3-943566-33-8

Titelbild:

BGR

Supply and Demand of
Lithium and Gallium
May 2016

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
5

Content
Supply and Demand of Lithium

9

1 Introduction

10

2 Distribution of lithium reserves and resources

10

2.1 Reserves and resources

10

2.2 Changes of reserves and resources

12

2.3 Regional distribution of reserves and resources

13

2.4 Reserves and resources in China

14

3 Lithium production

14

3.1 Changes of lithium production

14

3.2 Regional distribution of lithium production

14

3.3 Major lithium producers

15

3.4 Lithium production in China

16

4 Lithium supply and consumption

17

4.1 Lithium consumption

17

4.2 Lithium consumption markets

17

4.3 Trade18

4.4 Lithium consumption in China

19

4.5 Lithium price21

5 Outlook for lithium supply and demand21

5.1 Outlook for lithium demand21

5.2 Outlook for lithium supply capacity

24

5.3 China lithium supply capacity

25

6 Conclusions

25

6.1 Lithium reserves and resources abundant across the world25

6.2 The supply of global lithium highly concentrated

25

6.3 The demand for global lithium strongly in future25

6.4 The potential of China’s lithium resources

26

6.5 Outlook

26

7 References26

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
6

Supply and Demand of Gallium

27

8 Introduction

28

9 Uses28

10 Occurrence and resources

29

11 Production30

11.1 Primary production30

11.2 Secondary production

33

11.3 Refinery production

33

12 Gallium producers by country

33

13 Demand

39

14 Prices42

15 Trade

43

16 Outlook for gallium supply and demand45

17 Summary and conclusions

46

18 References45

Lithium and Gallium Supply and Demand
7

Preface
On 19 June 1979, the former State Bureau of Geology, now Ministry of Land and Resources of the People’s
Republic of China and the Federal Ministry of Economics, now Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs andEnergy of the Federal Republic of Germany signed an agreement on a scientific cooperation on geologicalsciences and techniques.
Main objectives are:•••to cooperate in geoscientific exchange and research in fields of common interest,
to develop geoscientific knowledge and techniques,to strengthen the basis of economic, technical and industrial cooperation among the two economies.

Topics of interest:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

coal (deposits, exploration, coal fires)hydrocarbons (geology, laboratory)ore deposits of metals and industrial minerals
engineering and environmental geology
marine geologyhydrogeology
tectonics, geophysics
geological data bases
mineral commodities and statistics.

This study on Lithium and Gallium supply and demand falls into the last category and was compiled by
the Information Center of the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People’s Republic of China (ICMLR)
and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) of Germany.
The study was presented in October 2015 on the China Mining Congress and Expo 2015 in Tianjin.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium8Supply and Demand of Lithium

Cui Rongguo, Guo Juan,Yin LiwenSupply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
10

1 Introduction
Throughout the last five decades, the application of lithium can be seen in many traditional industries suchas glass and ceramics, metallurgy of non-ferrous metals, air treatment, medicine and organic synthesis,making lithium to the traditional industries as what seasoning is to cuisines. The rapid development of
information technology and the electric automobiles in recent years has made lithium battery one of themost robustly growing industries. Consequently, lithium has become an ideal material for light alloy andenergy resource of 21th century.
Statistics from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) , the lithium consumption end-use markets
in 2013 as follows: glass and ceramics industries, 35 %; battery production, 31 %; lubricating greases,
8 %; continuous casting mold flux powders, 6 %; air treatment, 5 %; polymer production, 5 %; primaryaluminum production, 1 %; disposable battery production, 2 % and other uses, 9 %. From 2007 to 2013,lithium consumption experienced a somewhat rapid growth in glass and ceramics industry and battery
industry (Table 1).

Table 1: World: Lithium Consumption End-use markets

Consumption

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Glass and ceramics

20 %

18 %

31 %

31 %

29 %

26 %

35 %

Batteries

20 %

25 %

23 %

23 %

29 %

35 %

31 %

Lubricating greases

16 %

12 %

10 %

9%

14 %

13 %

8%

3%

4%

4%

5%

8%

6%

4%

5%

Continuous casting
Air treatment

8%

6%

5%

6%

4%

Primary aluminum production

6%

4%

3%

6%

4%

9%

7%

4%

3%

3%

2%

3%

3%

21 %

25 %

15 %

9%

8%

Polymers, rubber, etc.
Pharmaceuticals
Others

24 %

1%
5%

9%

Source: USGS (2015)

2 Distribution of lithium reserves and resources
2.1 Reserves and resources
Across the globe, lithium can be found mainly in pegmatite type deposit and brine deposit, with lithium-bearing brine resources accounting for a large part of the resources. The pegmatite type deposits are mainly inAustralia, Canada, Finland, China, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Congo. Meanwhile, lithium-bearing saline
lakes mainly are located in the following countries: Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, China, and the United States.
Statistics from USGS shows that in 2014, worldwide lithium reserves total 13.5 million tons which allow
the global lithium production to last for more than 360 years with an annual lithium output of 37,000 tons.
Among all the countries, Chile tops the list with a reserve volume of 7.5 million tons, followed by China(3.5 million tons), Australia (1.5 million tons) and Argentina (850,000 tons) (Table 2). Statistics vary bySupply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
11different organizations. SNL MEG in 2013 reported that the total lithium reserves on earth added up toaround 23.4 million tons, with which the lithium production can last 640 years with an annual production
output of 37,000 tons. Meanwhile, in the same year, Roskill reported the total lithium reserved to be on
the order of 20.8 million tons.

Table 2: World: Lithium reserves (thousand tons, lithium content)

SNL,2013
Lithium Extracted Fromsaline-lake

Total

Chile

7,500

Bolivia

Country

China

Lithium
Extracted
Fromminerals

750

Argentina

Roskill, 2013

USGS, 2014

7,500

7,300

7,500

5,500

5,500

5,500

2,750

2,750

3,900

3,500

2,550

2,550

2,700

850

505

1,500

Australia

970

970

Serbia850

850

Congo (DR)

1,000*

1,000*

Russia1,000*

1,000*

Canada256

Austria100

100

Brazil

46

46

50

48

38

169

38
23

United States

108

38

364

310

204

Zimbabwe

23

23

25

Finland14

14

6

Portugal

10

10

10

Afghanistan
World Total

60

150
5,069

18,33823,40720,080*13,500* estimate
Source: SNL (2014), ROSKILL (2013), USGS (2015)

In 2014, USGS estimated that the global lithium resources totaled 39.5 million tons. Bolivia ranks the firstwith 9 million tons of resources, followed by Chile (7.5 million tons), Argentina (6.5 million tons), UnitedStates (5.5 million tons), China (5.4 million tons) and Australia (1.7 million tons) (Table 3). SNL MEG (2013)
reported similar result estimating the lithium resources add up to 39.15 million tons.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
12

Table 3: World: Lithium resources (thousand tons, lithium content)

Country

USGS, 2014

SNL, 2013

Chile

7,500

7,500

Bolivia

9,000

9,000

China

5,400

5,400

Argentina

6,500

6,500

Australia

1,700

1,700

Serbia1,000

1,000*

Congo (DR)

1,000

1,000*

Russia1,000

1,000*

Canada1,000

364

Austria

100

BrazilUnited States

180

64

5,500

5,500

Zimbabwe57

Finland

14

Portugal

60

World Total

39,50039,151* estimate
Source: USGS (2015), SNL (2014)

2.2 Changes of reserves and resources
In recent years, an increasing number of projects prospecting and developing lithium resources havebeen carried out across the world, leading to the discoveries of lithium deposits and an increase of lithium reserves and resources. According to USGS, the global lithium resources have increased 14 million
tons from 25.5 million tons in 2009 to 39.5 million tons in 2014, a 54.9 % increase in five years. During
the five years, the global lithium reserves climbed from 9.9 million tons to 13.5 million tons, 36.4 % up.
China and Australia are front runners in the growth of reserves with a 1.6 fold growth and 5.5 fold growth
respectively (Table 4).

Table 4: World: Changes in lithium reserves (thousand tons, lithium content)

Country
or region

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Argentina

800

850

850

850

850

850

Australia

580

580

970

1,000

1,000

1,500

Brazil

190

64

640

46

46

48

Chile

7,500

7,500

7,500

7,500

7,500

7,500

38

38

38

38

38

38

United States

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
13Country
or region

2009

Canada

180

China

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

540

3,500

3,500

3,500

3,500

3,500

Portugal

10

10

10

10

60

60

Zimbabwe

23

23

23

23

23

23

World total

9,900

13,00013,00013,00013,00013,500Source: USGS (2015)

2.3 Regional distribution of reserves and resources
Around 70 % of lithium is consentrated in “the lithium triangle”. In terms of lithium reserves, Chile, richin saline lake lithium reserves that accounts for almost one third of the global volume, ranking the first.
Bolivia, making up 24 % of the total, comes next, followed by China with 3.5 million tons of lithium reserves. Argentina, whose saline lake lithium reserves make up 11 %, ranking the fourth. As for the lithium
resources, 59 % of the reserves located in “the lithium triangle” countries (Chile, Bolivia and Argentina)
with 14 % in China, and another 14 % in the United States (Figure 1).

Serbia 4 % Canada 1 %Others 1 %Australia 4 %Russia 4 %Russia 3 %Serbia 3 %Others 1 %Congo (DR)2%
Australia 4%

Congo (DR)
4%

Chile
32 %
Argentina
11 %
China
15 %

Bolivia
23 %
China
14 %
Chile
19 %

USA
14 %
Bolivia
24 %Reserves

Figure 1: Regional distribution of lithium reserves and resources, 2013

Argentina
17 %Resources

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
14

2.4 Reserves and resources in China
According to Ministry of Land and Resources, P.R.C., in 2014, Li2O reserves in China added up to 420,000
tons, and the reserves and resources totaled 2.94 million tons, mainly located in Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hunan
and Xinjiang. LiCl reserves totaled 3.75 million tons, and the reserves and resources reached 19.07 million
tons, which are concentrated in Qinghai, Hubei, Sichuan, Xinjiang and Tibet. Spodumene reserves in
China totaled 27,000 tons, and the reserves and resources totaled 87,000 tons, located in Jiangxi, Xinjiangand Sichuan. Lepidolite reserves amounted to 10,000 tons, and the reserves and resources amounted to
10,000 tons, which are mainly located in Jiangxi.

3 Lithium production
3.1 Changes of lithium production
The lithium production around the world has been on the increase from 2004 to 2013, discounting a fall in
2009. In 2013, the global mine production reached 37,000 tons (Li), or 197,000 tons of lithium carbonate,a 3.5 % year-on-year increase (see Figure 2).

40,00035,000Lithium [t]30,00025,00020,00015,00010,000
5,000
0
2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Source: USGS (2015)

Figure 2: Global lithium production

3.2 Regional distribution of lithium production
Global lithium productions are mainly concentrated in Chile, Argentina, Australia and China. In 2013,
the lithium production of the four countries totaled 27,000 tons (Li), accounting for 76.9 % of the global
production (Table 5).

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
15

Table 5: World: Lithium minerals and brines production

Country
Argentina

Australia

BrazilLithium mineral products

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Lithiumcarbonate

10,0008,574

11,17810,000

9,700

9,500

Lithiumchloride

7,800

4,279

6,644

4,480

4,350

4,200

Total (lithium)

3,170

2,309

3,184

2,610

2,533

2,471

Spodumene

239,528

197,482

295,000

421,396456,921421,000

Total (lithium)

6,280

4,400

9,260

12,50012,80012,700Concentrate

14,46015,92915,733

7,820

7,084

8,000

160

160

160

320

150

400

Spodumene*

22,00010,000––––Total (lithium)

690

480

Lithiumcarbonate

48,46925,15444,02559,93362,002

52,358

Lithiumchloride

4,362

2,397

3,725

3,864

4,145

4,091

Lithiumhydroxide

4,050

2,987

5,101

5,800

5,447

4,197

Total (lithium)

10,6005,620

10,51012,90013,200

11,200Lithiumcarbonate

17,50020,00021,00022,00024,00025,000Total (lithium)

3,290

3,760

3,950

4,140

4,500

4,700

Lepidolite

34,88837,35940,10937,534

20,69838,000Total (lithium)

570

–

800

820

560

570

Petalite,
spodumene

50,00050,00047,00048,00053,00050,000Total (lithium)

400

400

470

470

1,060

1,000

25,16017,80928,33433,76034,80335,041

Lithium
Canada

Chile

China

Portugal

Zimbabwe

World

Lithium

20,00** estimate
Source: USGS (2015), USGS (2013), Jaskula (2015)

3.3 Major lithium producers
In terms to the global lithium carbonate distribution and production capacity, SQM, Talison Inc.(51 % of
whose share is held by Tianqi Lithium Inc.), Rockwood Corp. and FMC are major producers, contributing
to over 80 % of the global volume. The next two years will witness a steady growth of lithium production
capacity of the world’s lithium as they start new projects and continue to work on the projects in progress.
As for the production of lithium carbonate, SQM and FMC have an annual growth rate of nearly 10 %.
Rockwood, 25 %. The two-stage capacity expansion of Greenbush’s chemical plants made it possible for
Talison to achieve a capacity of around 740,000 tons of lithium concentrate (equivalent to 110,000 tons oflithium carbonate equivalent) in 2012.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
16

Nearly 70 % of the global lithium mineralss in 2013 is supplied by Galaxy Resources and Talison, which
accounted for 65 % of the global volume. Meanwhile, as high as 92 % of the supply of saline lake lithium
is provide by SQM, Rockwood and FMC. As a result, lithium giants across the world have a monopoly on
the supply of lithium (Figure 3).

Zimbabwe
4%

Canada4%

Galaxy Resource
4%

China
8%

FMC
22 %

China
23 %

SQM
42%

Talison65 %Rockwood28%

Lithium Minerals

Lithium brines

Source: Summary of reports of companies in 2013

Figure 3: Global supply of lithium minerals and brines, 2013

3.4 Lithium production in China
Despite the fact that China is the third lithium-richest country, China lithium production accounts for mere
5 % of the global. However, the production of both lithium brines and minerals has been on the growth inrecent years (Table 6). 80 % of lithium is from minerals.
Table 6: China: Production of lithium (Gross weight, metric tons)

Brines (Li2CO3)Minerals

Total Prod. (LCE)*

2003

–

35,000

4,328

2004

100

36,000

4,551

2005

200

37,000

4,775

2006

300

37,000

4,875

2007

500

38,000

5,199

2008

2,500

40,000

7,446

2009

7,000

62,00014,666

2010

5,500

81,00015,516

2011

5,000

91,000

16,252

2012

4,000

100,000

16,365* Based on an average Li2O content of 5.0 % in lithium minerals produced
Source: BGS, ROSKILL (2013)

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
17

4 Lithium supply and consumption
4.1 Lithium consumption
Lithium consumption across the world totaled 132,000 tons LCE in 2011. In 2012, driven by the development in lithium-ion battery industry, the demand for lithium increased significantly to 147,000 tons, a yearon-year increase of 11.4 %. In 2013, the growth of global lithium consumption continued, with the global
consumption reaching 160,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 8.8 % (Table 7).
Table 7: World: Lithium consumption–
Consumption

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014*

113,000

132,000

147,000

160,000

162,000* estimate
Source: Antaike

4.2 Lithium consumption markets
The battery industry is the biggest driver for the global lithium consumption, accounting for 31 % of thetotal consumption in 2013, followed by glass and ceramics and lubricating greases (Figure 4). Lithium
consumption maintained a 6 % annual growth rate from 2000 to 2013.

Others20 %Lithium alloy
3%

Batteries
31 %Air treatment
4%
Pharmaceuticals
5%
Primary aluminum production
6%
Polymer production
9%

Figure 4: Global lithium consumption in 2013

Lubricating greases
12 %Ceramics and glass
10 %Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
18

4.3 Trade
The international lithium trade dominates in lithium carbonate. In 2012, global lithium export reached
79,064 tons LCE. Chile and Argentina have limited demand for lithium carbonate but they have beenmajor exporters of lithium carbonate. Lithium carbonate export from these two countries accounted forover 80 % of the world (Table 8).
Table 8: World: Total exports of lithium carbonate (Gross weight, metric tons)

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Chile

41,832

38,682

41,12542,58622,44340,89648,24855,899Argentina

7,300

8,028

7,794

10,755

8,578

11,296

9,898

9,399

Belgium

5,017

4,962

4,873

3,531

3,028

4,455

4,467

5,022

China

1,366

3,174

3,,1072,,490

2,000

2,655

5,362

2,973

UnitedStates

5,282

4,336

4,211

4,592

1,915

2,277

2,120

2,073

Germany

2,991

2907

2,705

2,290

1,881

2,556

2,921

2,258

Other

3,426

6,534

1,646

1,905

1,531

1,762

1,994

1,440

Total

67,214

68,62365,461

68,14941,37765,89875,01079,064

Source: GTIS (2015)

Global imports of lithium carbonate reached 80,623 tons in 2012. There are more than 9 countries imported more than 2000 tons (Table 9).
Table 9: World: Total imports of lithium carbonate (Gross weight, metric tons)

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Japan

10,001

14,521

13,553

13,194

8,023

14,02915,08912,753

UnitedStates

19,34016,06815,547

15,775

9,263

9,495

14,465

13,232

Korea

2,335

2,540

3,855

5,247

5,142

7,987

11,425

13,762

China

8,572

6,365

3,832

4,306

2,389

6,398

8,250

13,622

Belgium

6,320

5,342

5,891

4,410

3,410

4,181

7,768

7,204

Germany

8,097

7,908

8,131

7,142

4,493

6,795

5,738

6,058

Spain

1,553

828

1,819

3,994

2,825

3,239

3,338

2,476

France

1,439

1,227

1,290

1,251

1,172

1,137

2,792

1,756

Russia

2,955

938

873

891

545

696

2,110

2,200

Other

8,732

9,239

10,243

10,150

7,030

8,182

9,287

7,560

Total

69,34464,97665,034

66,36044,292

62,13980,26280,623

Source: GTIS (2015)

Spodumene concentrate is predominantly exported from Australian to China, Belgium, Germany andthe United States. Meanwhile, petalite concentrate produced in Zimbabwe is exported mainly to South
Africa, and the products are sold mainly to Asia and Europe. Lithium minerals from Protugal and Brazil

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
19

is mainly exported to China and Spain, respectively (Table 10). Trade in lithium brine is much less, andSQM, the main exporter in Chile, exprots lithium chloride brine to Ganfeng Lithium of China with limited
quantity (Table 11).
Table 10: World: Lithium minerals export (Gross weight, metric tons)

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Australia

14,5472435,689

243,662

236,441

225,761

324,115402,688514,620

Zimbabwe

17,805

236,8026,76926,42435,78341,01535,45338,398

Portugal

120

625

612

372

82

1,401

712

600

211

150

30

28

7

BrazilSource: GTIS (2015)

Table 11: Chile: Exports of lithium chloride brine from SQM to China (Gross weight, metric tons)

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Net weight

–

–

2,260

6,638

8,129

9,220

16,534

16,800

LiCl/ %

–

–

33

33

33

33

33

33

Lithiumchloride

–

–

746

2,190

2,683

3,043

4,752

4,828

Source: GTIS (2015)

4.4 Lithium consumption in China
China Lithium Association estimates that China has consumed 35,800 tons of LCE in 2010, a year-on-year
growth of 44 %. In 2012, the rapid development of small lithium ion battery industry drove the total lithium
consumption to 55,000 tons of LCE, a 49.4 % year-on-year increase. In 2013, lithium consumption goesup to 63,000 tons of LCE, accounting for 39 % of the global (Table 12).
Table 12: China: Lithium consumption (metric tons, LCE)

Consumption

2010

2011

2012

2013

35,80036,80055,00063,000Source: China Lithium Association

The battery industry plays a significant role in China’s consumption of lithium. In 2013, end-use markets
are estimated as follows: batteries, 42 %; lubricating grease, 18 %; glass and ceramics, 15 %; medicine,
10 %; dyes and adsorbent, 6 %; catalyst 5 %; and other uses, 4 % (Table 13, Figure 5).

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
20

Catalyst
5%

Others4%

Dye, absorbent
6%
Batteries
42 %Medicine
10 %Glass ceramics
15 %Lubrication greases
18 %Figure 5: 2013 Lithium consumption end-use markets in China

Table 13: China: Lithium consumption end-use markets (metric tons, LCE)

End-use market

2010

2011

2012

2013

Batteries

9,670

12,14018,15027,090

Lubricating greases

4,300

40,50

8,800

11,340Glass and ceramics

6,090

6,620

5,500

9,450

Pharmaceutics

1,430

740

2,200

6,300

Dye, adsorbent

1,070

370

3,850

3,780

Catalyst

1,430

3,500

3,850

3,150

Other

11,8109,750

12,6502,520

Source: China Lithium Association

China is a major player in the trade of lithium products, along with Japan and South Korea is the world's
leading producer of lithium-ion batteries, and that Japan, South Korea have set up plants in China, giving
a further boost to China demand for lithium. The trading of lithium carbonates assumes a prominent rolein the global lithium trade, and China is of no exception (Table 14, 15). Imports from Chile over 95 %; from
Argentina accounting for 3 % to 5 %. Each year, China imports 250,000 tons to 300,000 tons of spodumene concentrate from Australia.
Table 14: China: Lithium export (Gross weight, metric tons)

Products

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Lithium hydroxide

2,455

4,381

3,460

4,215

6,167

Lithium chloride

245

260

353

404

404

Lithium carbonate

2,655

5,362

2,973

1,250

2,463

Source: China Customs

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
21

Table 15: China: Lithium import (Gross weight, metric tons)

Products

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Lithium hydroxide

49

76

488

239

149

Lithium chloride

4,241

2,561

2,753

2,557

6,090

Lithium carbonate

6,398

8,250

13,622

13,681

13,601

Source: China Customs

4.5 Lithium price
The price of lithium carbonate rises year after year due to the more and more demand of lithium (Figure 6).

5,000

[$/t]

4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
2001

2002

2003

2004 20052006

2007 2008

2009

2010

2011 2012

2013

2014

Figure 6: Price of lithium carbonate in USA

5 Outlook for lithium supply and demand
To cope with global issues such as shortage of fossil energy and climate change, our society must develop
clean energy. To this goal, governments across the globe are striving to the development of renewableenergy generation and emerging industries such as electric automobile. It is projected that the next ten
years will witness a growth in the demand for lithium around the world.

5.1 Outlook for lithium demand
The global demand for lithium will increase at an average annual growth rate of more than 10 % in thefollowing ten years. Currently, battery industry is the most lithium-demanding, followed by glass, ceramics
and lubricating greases. The demand of battery industry, increasing by over 10 % each year, is climbing up
at the fastest compared to others. The demand for lithium of lubricating greases industry grows by 3.5 %,and the glass and ceramics, 3 % to 5 %.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
22

Lithium Carbonates [1.000 t]

The Chilean company signum Box predicts that the demand for lithium-ion battery industry will experiencea robust growth. In 2020, the global lithium demand will be about 285,000 tons (LCE, unless otherwise
noted). The lithium-ion battery industry will need about 150,000 tons, or 52.6 % of total demand. In 2025,
the global demand will be around 405,000 tons, 61.2 % of which (around 250,000 tons) will be consumed
by the battery industry (Figure 6, 7).

500
400

Battery

Glass and glass-ceramics

Ceramics

Lubricating greases

Other

300
200
100
0
2017

2020

2025

Figure 7: Outlook for lithium demand

Battery

Glass and glass-ceramics

Ceramics

Lubricating greases

Other

100 %
80 %
60 %
40 %
20 %
0%
2012

2017

Figure 8: Outlook for lithium consumption by end-use

2020

2025

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
23

China’s economy will be developing at medium-to-high growth rate in future. The government is actively
promoting the development of clean energy economy, energy production and consumption revolution. Chinais the biggest market with the fastest-growing potential demand. In the next ten years, industries including
new energy vehicles, energy-storing battery, electronic products and electric tools will have an increase of
demand, which will further boost the demand for lithium. It is estimated that in 2017, China’s lithium demand
will reach 104,800 tons. In 2020 and 2025, the number will be 131,800 tons and 187,770 tons respectively(Figure 8, 9).

Lithium carbonates [1.000 t]

250
200

Battery

Glass ceramics

Lubricating greases

Other

150
100
50
0
2017

2020

2025

Figure 9: Outlook for China lithium consumption

Battery

Glass ceramics

Lubricating greases

Other

100 %
80 %
60 %
40 %
20 %
0%
2017

2020

Figure 10: Outlook for China lithium consumption by end-use

2025Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
24

5.2 Outlook for lithium supply capacity
With the strong growth in the global demand for lithium, there are more than 20 projects which are expanding or in progress. It is predicted that by 2017, global production capacity for lithium brines will reach
271,000 t/a and that of lithium minerals will be 280,000 t/a, adding up to a total of 551,000 t/a. It is estimatedthat global lithium production capacity will reach 730,000 t/a by 2025.
Table 16: World: Production capacity of lithium (LCE, t/a)

Products

Current
capacity

ExpandedcapacityNew
projects

Newly
expandedcapacity

Production
capacity
in 2017

Newly
expandedcapacity

Production
capacity
in 2025

Lithium
brine

127,000

88,0504

56,000271,000

76,000347,500

Lithium
minerals

183,000

22,500475,000280,000

100,500

380,500

Total

31,000110,5508

131,000

551,000

176,500

728,000

Lithiumcompound

199,000

136,000

128,000

463,000

Lithium
concentrate

72,00048,00072,000

192,000

8

Saline lake in Qinghai

Canada lithium mines

2000

28

Chile Albemarle

10

Chile SQM

3000

Argentina Orocobre

4000

Saline lake in Qinghai[US$ / t]

5000

188

235

307

Other lithium
mines in China

Argentina ADY

178

6000

Sichuan Tianqi
Lithium Industries

FMC

It is predicted that by 2017 the production capacity for lithium compounds will reach 463,000 t/a. Thereare 271,000 tons lithium compounds made from saline lake with a cost of US$1,500/t to US$3,000/t,
and 192,000 tons from concentrate with a cost of US$3,200/a to US$4,500/a. Provided that the price oflithium carbonate is higher than US$4,500/t, the lithium brine will reach 240,000 tons with 130,000 tons
produced by producing companies and 110,000 tons produced by the projects which are expanding or inprogres. If the price of lithium carbonate is higher than US$5,000/a, then the production capacity of lithiumcompounds from concentrate is expected to be 130,000 t/a; while if the price is lower than US$5,000/t,
the production capacity is expected to be less than 70,000 t/a (Figure 10).

367

427

1000
0

88

148

[1.000 t p.a]

Figure 11: Production capacity and cost of lithium carbonateSupply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
25

5.3 China lithium supply capacity
It is estimated that in 2017, the capacity of lithium will total 228,000 t/a, with 72,000 t/a form brines and
156,000 t/a from lithium minerals. The capacity of lithium compounds is estimated to be 192,000 t/a,
62.5 % of which (or 120,000 tons) is from lithium concentrate. In China, lithium compounds from concentrate will cost over US$4,200/t. If the price of lithium carbonate is higher than US$5,000/t, then the capacityof lithium compounds from minerals is estimated to 80,000 to 90,000 t/a. However, if the price of lithium
carbonate is lower than US$4,800/t, then that is estimate to lower than 50,000 t/a.

6 Conclusions
6.1 Lithium reserves and resources abundant across the world
As one of the most important minerals for emerging industries, lithium will assume an increasingly important role in the economic development. However, the lithium consumption is relatively low. According to
the minimum statistics provided by USGS, global lithium reserves could last 360 years; and the statistics
from SNL MEG suggests that it could last over 640 years. Thus the lithium supply will be able to meet the
global demand for a long term.

6.2 The supply of global lithium highly concentrated
The lithium production is unbalanced and concentrated. Geographically speaking, more than 70 % oflithium production is in Chile, Argentina, Australia and China. Meanwhile, more than 80 % of lithium
suppliers are from SQM, Talison (51 % of Talison’s share is held by Sichuan Tianqi Lithium Industries),
Rockwood and FMC. Over 90 % of the saline lake lithium is provided by SQM, Rockwood and FMC. It canbe concluded that the supply of lithium is in monopoly. In the coming ten years, the global lithium supply
may exceed the demand for lithium as the lithium production capacity is 1.5 fold of the demand for lithium.

6.3 The demand for global lithium strongly in future
Global lithium demand will grow at an annual rate of 10% in the next ten years. Currently, the top four
lithium-demanding markets are battery, glass, ceramics and lubricating greases. Battery industry, currently the biggest lithium-demanding market, will experience the fastest growth, with an annual growthrate of over 10 %. Following the battery industry is lubricating greases industry, with an annual growthrate of 3.5 %. Glass and ceramics industry will have an annual growth rate of 3 % to 5 %. The increasing
demand for new energy vehicles, grid storage applications, electronics and electric tools gives a boost to
the demand for lithium. It is estimated that the demand for lithium in China will reach 104,800 tons (LCE) in2017. By the year of 2020 and 2025, China’s lithium demand will be 131,800 tons (LCE) and 187,700 tons
(LCE), respectively.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
26

6.4 The potential of China’s lithium resources
China, with around 3,500,000 tons of lithium resources, ranks the third. It is estimated that there are
more than 10,000,000 tons of lithium brines resources in Tibet, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. One of the biggest
difficulties facing the development of lithium brines is the high proportion of Mg/Li, which makes it lesseconomically feasible to extract lithium from the saline lakes.

6.5 Outlook
Despite the rich lithium resources China has, the lithium supply cannot meet its demand for lithium inshort term due to the lack of technology. Thus China will remain a lithium importer in a few years. The totallithium export from Chile, Argentina, Australia and United States reaches is over 150,000 tons, creating
an abundant global lithium supply market that allows China to acquire sufficient lithium from international
market, without causing others countries acquiring insufficient lithium from the global market.

7 References
BGS – BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: LITHIUM BRINES. – URL: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/sciencefacilities/GeoEnvironmental/lithiumbrines.html
CHINA CUSTOMS: General Administration of Customs - People’s Republic of China. – URL: http://english.
customs.gov.cn [24.04.2016]
GTIS – GLOBAL TRADE INFORMATION SERVICES INC. (2015): Global Trade Atlas. – URL: https://www.gtis.com/
gta, [20.04.2016].
JASKULA, B. W. (2015): Lithium. – U. S. Geological Survey, Minerals Yearbook 2013, 44.1-44.11; Reston.
LI, B. (2013): Development Status of Global Lithium in 2013. – Advanced Materials Industry, 2013(7):32 – 36.
LITHIUM SUB-ASSOCIATION OF CHINA NONFERROUS METALS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION (2013): China Lithium Industry
Report in 2012.
ROSKILL – ROSKILL INFORMATION SERVICES LTD (2013): Lithium: Market outlook to 2017. – 12th Edition, 426 p.;
London.
SNL – SNL FINANCIAL LC (2014): Online Database (with costs). – Charlottesville, Virginia.
USGS – UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY (2015): Mineral Commodity Summaries 2015. – 196 p.; Reston.
– http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/2015/mcs2015.pdf [20.04.2016].
WANG, Q., YUAN, C. & XU, H. (2015): Analysis of the global lithium resource distribution and potential. –China Mining Magazine, 2015(2): 10 – 17.
ZHOU, P., TANG, J. & ZHANG, T. (2014): Supply and demand prospect of global lithium resources. – Geological
Bulletin of China, 2014(10): 1.532 – 1.538.

Supply and Demand of Gallium

Dieter Huy, Maren Liedtke

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
28

8 Introduction
Gallium (chemical symbol Ga, atomic number 31) is a blue-gray to silvery-white metal with orthorhombic
crystalline structure. It was discovered in 1875 by the French chemist Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran.
It ranks third in the boron group (group 13 according to IUPAC1). Besides mercury, caesium and rubidium, gallium is one of the few elements with a melting point near room temperature (29.78 °C). The metal
remains in a melted state up to 2,204 °C, giving it the largest liquid range of all metal elements. Like water,
gallium expands during solidification. The density of gallium in solid phase is 5.91 g/cm³ and in liquid phase
6.1 g/cm³. For further properties see table 17.
Table 17: Properties of gallium

Atomic number

31

Atomic weight69.723

Boiling point

2.204°C

Density

5.91 g/cm³ near r.t / 6.095 g/cm³ when liquid

Hardness (Mohs scale)

1.5

Isotopes

69

Electron configuration[Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p1

Oxidation states

3, 2, 1, -2, -4

Electronegativity (Pauling scale)

1.81

Thermal conductivity

40.6 (W/m)/K

Ga (60.11 %), 71Ga (39.89 %)9 UsesThe use of gallium compound based group III/V semiconductors has made gallium a high-tech metal in
the past decades. The two main application fields are integrated circuits (ICs) and optoelectronic devices.
The most common compounds are gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN), in much smaller
amounts gallium antimonide (GaSb) and gallium phosphide (GaP), representing about 94 % of current
consumption (ROSKILL 2014).
Currently, the greatest use of gallium is in GaAs. GaAs is used as a substrate material (wafer) for theepitaxial growth of III/V semiconductors including indium gallium arsenide, aluminum gallium arsenide
and others, as well as for the production of high-efficiency (> 20 %) copper-indium-gallium-selenium
thin-film solar cells (CIGS). The largest use is in GaAs compound semiconductors in optoelectronic andmicroelectronic industries including integrated circuits (ICs) used in cell phones, infrared emitting diodes(IREDs), laser diodes (LDs), laser emitting diodes (LEDs), wireless communications, and high-end military
applications.
The predominant use of GaN is in optoelectronics. It can be used to emit brilliant light in the form of lightemitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs). It is also used in electronic devices for next generation highfrequency, high power transistors capable of operating at high temperatures. GaP is used – standalone
or compounded with other gallium components – in the manufacture of LEDs of different colours andin electronic devices like power amplifiers for WiFi and WiMAX applications. GaSb is used for infrared
detectors, infrared LEDs and thermophotovoltaic systems.
Secondarily, gallium is used in neodymium-iron-boron magnets and batteries, high temperature thermometers, and in low melting alloys. An eutectic alloy of gallium, indium and tin (“Galinstan”) replaces mer1)

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
29

cury in fever thermometers. Gallium oxide is used as a constituent in plasma and fiber optic applications.
Gallium citrate is used in medical imaging for cancer diagnostics (“gallium imaging”).

10 Occurrence and resources
Gallium is present in the Earth’s crust at about 18 ppm (GAO et al. 1998). It is not found in its elemental
form and does not form economically recoverable concentrations. It mainly occurs as a trace element inaluminium, zinc and germanium minerals like bauxite, sphalerite and germanite, and in hard coal.
At present, gallium is only produced as by-product of the refining process of other metals during alumina
production from bauxite or during zinc residue processing. The most important primary source for gallium
is bauxite. Gallium can be also found in the fly ash produced by the coal and phosphates industries.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports bauxite reserves of 28 bn t and zinc reserves of
230 Mt (USGS 2014). The leading countries are Guinea, Australia, Brazil, Vietnam and Jamaica for bauxite, Australia, China, Peru, Mexico, India, Kazakhstan and the USA for zinc (Figure 12).
Based on an average gallium content of 50 ppm (JASKULA 2014) and a recovery rate of 40 %(ELSNER et al. 2010) contained gallium in bauxite amounts to 560,000 t. The gallium content of zinc ores
ranges between 10 to 320 ppm (BUTCHER & BROWN 2014). This some additional hundred tons could
be contained in the world zinc resources. The current primary production of gallium is about 300 to
400 t/a (ROSKILL 2014), so primary gallium supply is secured for many hundreds of years (Figure 13).

Bauxite reserves 2014: 28 billion tons (Gt)

Zinc reserves 2014: 230 million tons (Mt)

10 Mt

5.9 Mt

China
43 Mt

CanadaKazakhstan
USA
10 Mt

Mexico
16 Mt

China

2.0 Gtamaica
uyana
u
0.85
Gt

Guinea7.4 Gt

0.5
Gt

India
11 Mt

.
Gt

2.1 GtIndia

ietnam
1.0 GtPeru
29 Mt

Brazil
2.6 GtIndonesia

Greece0.60 Gt

Suriname

0.58 Gt

Bolivia

4.5 MtVenezuela

0.32 Gt

Ireland

1.1 MtRussia0.20 Gt

57.0 Mt

Kazakhstan

0.16 Gt

Other
Countries

USA

0.02 Gt

Other
Countries

2.40 Gt

Figure 12: World distribution of bauxite and zinc reserves (data: USGS)

ustralia
6.5 GtAustralia
62 Mt

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
30

6,000

5,000

Potential for primary gallium production from bauxite [t]Primary gallium production[t]

[t]

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012

Figure 13: Potential for primary gallium production from bauxite

Globally, there are only a few deposits with gallium concentrations in the ore that are high enough to consider a recovery of gallium as main element. The most popular example is the Apex mine in Utah, USA,
where St. George Mining Company brought into production the world’s first mine with gallium and germanium as main elements in 1985 (BAUTISTA 2003). The Apex Mine Mill processed dump and undergroundmined ore at 0.03 to 0.045 % gallium for only a few months. In 1987 the company went into liquidation as
the gallium production did not prove to be economic. Currently there are no mines working primarily for
gallium.

11 Production
Gallium is recovered both as primary production, and secondary from recycled gallium-bearing scrap,
mainly compounds. Primary gallium is typically recovered at 99.9 to 99.99 % (3N, 4N), and then refined tohigher purities depending on the further use. 4N gallium is used for metallurgical, chemical and solar applications. For electronic and compound semiconductor applications 6N (99.9999 %) to 7N (99.99999 %)purity is required. Very high purity gallium (8N) is used for molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) applications.

11.1 Primary production
About 90 % of current primary gallium production is extracted from bauxite during the refining of alumina.
The most commonly used process for the production of alumina from bauxite, and thus gallium is the Bayerprocess, named after the Austrian chemist Karl Joseph Bayer, who developed a method for supplying alumina to the textile industry in 1888 (SEECHARRAN 2010). During the process the aluminium bearing minerals
in bauxite – gibbsite, boehmite and diaspore – are selectively extracted from the insoluble components

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium31

by dissolving them in a solution of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) at high temperatures and high pressure. The solution contains sodium aluminate and non-dissolved bauxite residue containing iron, silicon,
titanium, aluminium, and other elements in small quantities, including gallium.
There are various options to recover gallium from sodium aluminate solutions such as fractional precipitation, electrochemical deposition, solvent extraction, and ion exchange. Solvent extraction is an efficientmethod. By using the Kelex 100 system, about 80 % of the gallium in Bayer liquor can be extracted.
However, the kinetics of the extraction process has been proved to be very slow, generally requiring
several hours. Ion exchange is the main method applied in industry for gallium recovery from Bayer liquor.
Duolite ES-346 and DHG586 exhibit good extracting properties for gallium, and are used as industrial
resins (ZHAO et al. 2012).
A small amount of gallium is produced as by-product of zinc extraction from sphalerite ore (ZnS). During
this process the sphalerite is first roasted to zinc oxide (ZnO) and then leached with sulphuric acid. Gallium is contained in impurities which are separated from the leach solution. Using Duolite ES 467 or HDP
ion exchange resins the gallium is recovered from these residues by ion exchange (JACQUIN et al. 1987).
Finally, during production of alumina as well as during refining of zinc, electrowinning is used to create acrude gallium metal at purities of 99.9 to 99.99 % (3N/4N gallium) (Figure 14).

Gallium-bearing
bauxite ores

Gallium-bearing
zinc ores

Bayer process

Acid leach

Gallium-bearing
Bayer liquor

Gallium-bearing
zinc sulphate solution

Proprietary techniques using
ion exchange resins or
non-proprietary processes

Precipitation to remove
impurities

Antimony trioxide,
zinc dust
or proprietary reagents

Gallium-bearing
cement residue

Separation‚New‘ scrap recycled frommanufacturing processes

3N Gallium
primary gallium

Electrolytic refiningor
washing with hydrochloric acid

4N Gallium

Zone refining

6N / 7N / 8N Gallium

Figure 14: Processes of extracting gallium from bauxite or zinc ores (after BUTCHER & BROWN 2014)

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
32

World primary production
The USGS estimates the world primary gallium production to be 440 t in 2014, a plus of 26 % comparedto the previous year before (350 t). China, Germany, and the Ukraine were the leading producers. Lesser
output came from Japan, South Korea, and Russia (JASKULA 2015a).
From the beginning of the 1970th to the end of the 1990th production of primary gallium rose continuously
at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.3 %. Between 2001 and 2004 production fell owing tolower demand for gallium in the electronics industry. Since 2005 production is rising sharply with growth
rates of nearly 20 %, only briefly interrupted by the financial crisis in 2009 (Figure 15). Overall, the CAGR
from the beginning of the 1970th to 2014 is 8.4 %.

World primary production capacity
Global estimated capacities for the production of crude gallium amounted to 680 t (JASKULA 2015a). China
has available capacities of about 550 t. Outside China the production capacities add up to about 123 t(JASKULA 2014b; NAUMOV 2014): Germany accounting for 40 t, followed by Kazakhstan (22 t), South Korea(16 t), Ukraine (15 t), Russia (12 ), Japan (10 t), and Hungary (8 t). In the past, further production capacities were indicated for Australia, the USA, and Slovakia. Between 1994 and 2014 global capacity has
been increasing by 8 % annually. Since the end of the 1990s, especially China has ramped up production
capacities massively and is currently disposing of more than 80 % of the global crude gallium capacities.
During the past years, the production was usually below 50 % of the capacities, rarely above. Merely during
the short period of 2010 to 2012 there was an increase in capacity utilization between 70 and 80 % (Figure 15).

100
utilised capacity

600

primary production capacity

80

primary production
500
60

400

300

40

200

20
100

0
1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

Figure 15: Production, production capacity and capacity utilization of primary gallium0
2015

Utilised Capacity [%]Primary Production and ProductionCapacity [t]700Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
33

11.2 Secondary production
Recycling of gallium is another significant source for the market. At present, no gallium is recovered frompost-consumers scrap, so the wastes from the production of GaAs and GaN wafers are the most importantsource for secondary gallium. The fabrication of these semiconductor wafers generates about 60 % new
scrap, with a gallium content ranging from 1 to 99.99 % (BUTCHER & BROWN 2014).

Worldwide secondary capaciƟes are esƟmated at 200 t.

11.3 Refinery production
Gallium at 3N/4N purities (99.9 to 99.99 %) obtained from primary and secondary production must be
refined to higher purities, typically by fractional crystallization and zone refining up to 7N/8N dependent
on the further use.
Reliable data for production and capacity of refined gallium are very difficult to obtain and in many cases,
it is impossible to differentiate wether production is derivet from secondary gallium or upgraded 3N/4N
gallium.
According to estimates of the USGS refined gallium production in 2014 was about 170 t, 15 % less than2013. Refinery capacity was 230 t in 2014. Only 39 % of the primary gallium production of 440 t was
refined, compared to 70 % in the year before.
Principal producers of refined gallium from primary material were China, Japan, the United Kingdom, theUnited States, and Canada. Principal producers of refined gallium from secondary material were Japan,
China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Slovakia, and Germany.

12 Gallium producers by country
Australia
Currently there is no gallium production in Australia. In the first half of the 1990s, Australia was a major
producer of primary gallium from Rhône-Poulenc’s 50 t/a facility which was established in 1989 near
Alcoa’s Pinjarra alumina refinery. The plant produced gallium chloride which was exported to France,
where Rhône-Poulenc refined gallium at its Salindres plant. Oversupply of gallium resulted in the shutdown of several gallium recovery facilities worldwide, including Pinjarra which was mothballed after only
one year in operation. Rhône-Poulenc stated, that it had sufficient gallium stockpiled at the plant to meetcurrent demand levels and would not reopen the plant until market conditions improved (Kramer 1992). In
1998, Rhodia Chimie S.A. founded following the spin-off of the chemicals, fibres and polymers activities ofRhône-Poulenc, took over the gallium business and operated Pinjarra by its Australian subsidiary Rhodia
Pinjarra Pty Ltd. In 1999 the US company GEO speciality chemicals acquired Rhodia. GEO Gallium S.A.
a subsidiary of GEO speciality chemicals announced to double the capacity of Pinjarra to 100 t/a in 2002
(CS 2001) but the plan was never realized.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
34

CanadaAlthough Canada is one of the top five producers of zinc there is no production of primary gallium.
Molycorp Minerals Canada ULC is the Canada division of Molycorp Inc. (see section USA). Molycorp
Canada recovers gallium and indium from low grade manufacturers waste and residue at its Peterborough, Ontario hydrometallurgical plant. The plant was owned by Recapture Metals Ltd. and acquired byToronto-based Neo Material Technologies Inc. in 2009 (SEMICONDUCTORTODAY 2009). Neo Material itself
was acquired by Molycorp in 2012 (MOLYCORP 2012). Molycorp (2015b) reports a gallium production from
scrap feedstock of 13 t for 2013 and 2014 respectively; this includes gallium production at Molycorps US
plant at Blanding, Utah. ROSKILL (2014) reports an upgrading capacity of 30 t/a at Peterborough.

China
China is by far the major producer of both, primary and refined gallium. The primary gallium production
capacity of China is estimated at 450 – 470 t for 2013 (JASKULA 2015b, ROSKILL 2014) and 550 t for 2014
(JASKULA 2015a). Most of the gallium is produced as a by-product from Bayer liquor during alumina production, only small amounts originated from zinc production. According to ROSKILL (2014), China has
capacities of at least 170 t for upgrading and recycling of gallium. In 2013 China produced 327 t of gallium(INFORMATION CENTER OF MINISTRY OF L AND AND RESOURCES (ICMLR), personal communication, October 22,2014). The Fanya Metal Exange reported stocks of 197.46 t in August, 2015, and nearly reached its total
storage capacity of 200 t for gallium (FANYA EXCHANGE 2015), in addition to at least 50 t at the State Reserve
Bureau of China (SRB) (METALBULLETIN 2013).
Major Chinese producers of primary gallium are
•

•

•
•
•

•
•

Zhuhai SEZ Fangyuan Inc. is China’s and the world’s largest producer of primary gallium. It accounts
with a capacity of 140 t per year at six locations for more than 30 % of total world output. The company produces 4N and 6N gallium and is owner of a patent of a chelating resign for adsorbing gallium(“GaXW-7”, State invention patent no. ZL03112341) (ZHUHAI FANYUAN 2015).
Aluminium Corporation of China Ltd. (CHALCO) produces gallium metal and gallium oxide at foursites at Shandong, Henan, Guizhou and Shanxi province (CHALCO 2015a). In 2014 the company
produced 81.2 t of gallium, after 127.8 t in 2013 and 39.2 t in 2012 (CHALCO 2015b).
East Hope Mianchi Gallium Industry at Mianchi County, Henan Province ranks third with a capacityof 80 t/a and a production of 40 t/a (ROSKILL 2014).
Shanxi Jiahua Tianhe Electronic Materials is a joint venture of Molycorp, Shanxi Aluminium Plant
and Beijing JiYa Semiconductor Material. Its capacity is estimated at 50 t/a (ROSKILL 2014).
Xiaoyi Xingan Gallium Co., Ltd was founded 2011 by Xiaoyi Xingan Chemials Co. Ltd, a subsidiary ofHangzhou Jinjiang Group, one of the major alumina and aluminium producers in China. (50 t/a). The
company reports a capacity for the production of 4N gallium of 50 t/a and has the world’s largest single
production line (XINGAN 2015).
Beijing JiYa Semiconductor Material Co. is a joint venture of the US company AXT Inc., Consco
Group, Hong Kong and Shanxi Aluminum Plant and has a capacity of 45 t/a (ROSKILL 2014).
Shanxi Zhaofeng Gallium Industry Co. is a joint venture of Shanxi Zhaofeng Aluminum Co., Ltd of
Yangmei Group, Beijing JiYa Semiconductor Material Co., and Chalco Jinlv Refr Co. It has a capacityof 20 – 40 t/a (ROSKILL 2014).

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
35

Secondary and refined gallium is provided by
•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Nanjing Jinmei Gallium Co., Ltd., a joint venture between the US company AXT Inc. (83 %) andNanjing Germanium Factory (17 %) (AXT 2015, CNGE 2015). On its website the company reports
capacities for the production of 100 t of high-pure gallium of 5N to 8N, including MBE gallium, of 50 t
for crude gallium from recycling, of 6 t for 4N/5N gallium oxide, and of 2 t for 4N/5N gallium nitride(NANJING 2015).
MCP Metals (Shenzen), owned by 5N Plus, Canada has upgrading capacities of 20 t/a (Roskill 2014).
A joint venture called MCP Crystal was formed in 2009 between the MCP Group and the Chinese company Golden Harvest Ltd. to create an integrated gallium operation capable of producing both low-purity and high-purity gallium. The joint venture consisted of four operations, three 99.99 % (4N) plants andone 6N and 7N plant. The 4N plants were expected to collectively produce between 70 t/a and 80 t/aof gallium. The plants were located in Henan, Shangxi, and Sichuan Province (JASKULA 2011).
Vital Materials Co. produces high purity gallium (5N – 7N). In 2013 Vital Materials entered into anagreement with Hangzhou Jinjiang Group to form a joint venture for the production of gallium. The joint
venture operation will produce 60 t/a (VITAL 2013). Crude gallium is supplied by Jinjiang’s subsidiary
Xingan Gallium. In addition to gallium metal, Vital produces gallium compounds like gallium oxide,
chloride, sulfate, nitrate, phosphide, antimonide and trimethyl gallium and recycles gallium from gallium-bearing scrap.
Emei Semiconductor Material Factory & Institute is according to its company profile the biggest
producing center for high pure elements and compound materials in China (EMEI 2012). The company
was founded in 1964 and is situated in Leshan, Sichuan province. The company produces and sells awide range of high purity elements including gallium of 5N – 7N.
Sichuan Western Minmetals Co., Ltd. is a supplier providing a wide range of high purity metals andoxides including gallium metal of 5N – >7N and gallium oxide and gallium trioxide of 4N – 5N. The
company is headquartered at Chengdu, Sichuan province (SWM 2015).
Sumika Electronic Materials (Shanghai) was established as a 70/30 joint venture named Shanghai
Sumika High Purity Metal Ltd. in 2001 by Sumitomo Chemicals Co. Ltd and Inabata & Co., Ltd, Japan.
The refining facility has a capacity of 40 t/a of 6N – 7N gallium metal, which will be supplied to Sumitomo (KRAMER 2001)
Zhuzhou Keneng New Material Co., Ltd. was established in 2001 at Zhuzhou, Henan privince. The
main products include indium, bismuth, tellurium, and 4N and 6N gallium (ZZK 2015).

FranceCurrently there is no production of gallium in France. Until 2006 GEO Gallium S.A. a subsidiary of US
Geo Speciality Metals Inc., was the leading producer of refined gallium at its Salindres plant (formerly
owned by Rhône-Poulenc and Rhodia Chimie S.A.) using primary gallium produced at its Ingal Stade plant,
Germany as feed material. After GEO Gallium had sold Ingal Stade to MCP, Great Britain and recapture
Metals, USA, the Salindres facility was subsequently closed and at yearend Geo Speciality Metals Inc.
no longer operated its Geo Gallium subsidiary (K RAMER 2007).

Germany
Ingal Stade GmbH, based in Stade near Hamburg, is Germany’s sole producer of primary gallium andthe biggest outside China. The company is located on the premises of Aluminium Oxide Stade Gmbh
(AOS), an alumina refinery with a current production in excess of 900,000 t/a of aluminium oxide (Al2O3),
owned by Dadco Alumina & Chemicals Ltd. Ingal Stade was founded as International Gallium in 1989 and,meanwhile, has since changed ownership several times. Presently, Ingal Stade is a 50:50 joint venture
between the Canadian 5N Plus and the US company Molycorp Inc.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
36

Ingal extracts annually about 30 t of primary gallium from Bayer process liquor of the alumina refinery.
For further treatment and refining up to 7N purity the gallium is shipped to the owners’ facilities in the UK
and the USA.
PPM Pure Metals GmbH at Langelsheim, Germany has a very long tradition in the production and refining of high purity metals and compounds. It started with a smelter for processing lead and zinc in 1575.
Later it was an operation site of the German Preussag AG. Since 1988 PPM is part of the French Recylex
S.A. PPM is engaged in the production of high purity minor metals and their compounds for mainly theelectronic, opto-electronic, and photovoltaic industries. This includes ultra pure metals (up to 7N5 quality)
and compounds of the elements antimony, arsenic, cadmium, copper, gallium, germanium, indium, lead,
tellurium, and tin. PPM produces gallium from 4N – 8N purity by recycling scraps, residues and slurries
from gallium arsenide pulling, wafer and epitaxial processing, and other gallium containing materials (PPM
2015). ROSKILL (2014) estimates a capacity of 10 t/a.

Hungary
Magyar Aluminium Zrt. (MAL) was established in 1995 when the Hungarian aluminium industry was privatized. In Ajka, situated about 150 km west of Budapest, MAL is operating an alumina facility processing
domestic ores. Since the acquisition of the bauxite operation Rudnici Boksita Jajce in 2004 Bosnian ores
have been shipped to Ajka, where Mal is extracting crude gallium from Bayer liquor with a purity of 4N to
7N (MAL 2014). There is an estimated capacity of 8 t per year. The last reported production was 3.9 t in2009 (ROSKILL 2014). According to company reports gallium production stopped in 2013 (MAL, personalcommunication, June 24, 2014).

Japan
Japan has a production capacity of primary gallium of about 10 tons per year. It is recovered from theby-products of the zinc smelting process of Akita Zinc Co., Ltd, Iijima Smelting Plant, an 81 % subsidiaryof DOWA Metals and Mining Co., Ltd. Akita refines zinc from imported ore mainly from DOWA’s 39 %share Tizapa mine in Central Mexico (DOWA 2015a), as Japan has no domestic zinc ore production. The
subsequent treatment to high-purity (7N) gallium is carried out by DOWA Electronics Co., Ltd.
Japan’s gallium supply in 2013 was about 140 t of which 71.5 t were sourced from recycled scrap (JASKULA
2015b). About 60 t of gallium are imports, the remainder is primary gallium from zinc refining. According
to ROSKILL (2014) Japan has capacities of about 210 t for upgrading and recycling of gallium. There are
five companies reporting refining, upgrading or recycling of the metal (RLJ 2007):•••

Dowa Electronic Materials Co., Ltd refines gallium that is produced from by-products of the zincsmelting process at Akita Zinc Co’s Iijima Smelting Plant and from recycled gallium scrap to purities up
to 7N (DOWA 2015b). Capacity is estimated at 90 t/a (ROSKILL 2014). By its own account the company
holds the no. 1 share in sales of high purity gallium in the world market. Dowa Electronics also supplies
gallium oxide, gallium arsenide and gallium nitride based epitaxial wafers and LEDs.
Sumitomo Chemicals Co. is a major Japanese chemical company and a member of the Sumitomo
Group. The company has high purity gallium capacities of about 100 t/a of which 60 t are at Ehime
plant, Japan, and 40 t provided by Sumika Electronic Materials (Shanghai) (ICIS 2001). Sumitomo
Chemicals Co. is thus one of the world’s largest producer of the metal. Sumitomo Chemical’s gallium
products include high purity gallium, trimethy gallium, triethyl gallium, and gallium arsenide wafers. In
April, 2015 Sumitomo Chemicals acquired Hitachi Metals, Ltd’s compound semiconductor materials
business.
Rasa Industries, Ltd. started as Rasa Island Phosphate Ore Co., Ltd. in 1911. The production ofhigh purity gallium from semiconductor wafer scrap began 1982 at Osaka factory. Rasa’s ElectronicSupply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
37

•

•

Materials Sector is engaged in the manufacturing and sale of high purity inorganic materials, including
gallium of 6N/7N purity (RASA 2015). ROSKILL (2014) estimates upgrading and refining capacities of
35 t/a.
Nippon Rare Metal, INC. (NRM) started in 1958 as a supplier of selenium, photoelectric cells andmetal salts. In 2000, the company began with the recovery of gallium and tantalum (NRM 2015). It
produces 4N – 5N gallium and gallium oxide from wafer production scrap and copper-indium-gallium-selenium (ICGS) scrap from thinfilm solar sector. ROSKILL (2014) estimates upgrading and refining
capacities of 10 t/a.
The Nichia Corporation, headquartered in Tokushima is one of the world’s largest producer of gallium
compound based LEDs with distribution offices around the world (NICHIA 2015). ROSKILL (2014) estimates upgrading and refining capacities of high purity gallium of at least 15 t/a.

Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan has an annual production capacity of crude gallium of 20 – 22 t. Aluminium of Kazakhstan(AoK), a subsidiary of the internationally operating mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC (ENRC), is extracting about 5 Mio. t of bauxite per year in the region of Pavlodar in thenortheast of Kazakhstan. Production of alumina amounts to 1.5 Mio. t. In the process gallium is recovered
as a by-product. From 2008 to 2011 there was an annual primary gallium output of about 18.7 t. In 2012,
the production decreased to 15.7 t (ENRC 2014), and since 2013 ENRC has stopped the production ofgallium completely.

RussiaThe primary gallium production capacities of Russia are estimated at 12 t/a. OAO Pikalevskii glinozem(Pikalevo Alumina) which operates as a subsidiary of LLC BaselCement produces gallium from apatite
nepheline ore. OOO Gallii (Gallium) at Kamensk-Ural produced gallium from bauxites. The company has
a capacity of 4 t/a but stopped production in 2012 (NAUMOV 2014).

Slovakia
Until 2009 the USGS reported capacities for the production of primary gallium of about 8 t/a for Slovakia(JASKULA 2011), but since 2010 there is no production of primary gallium in Slovakia.
CMK, s.r.o. based in Zarnovica was founded in the 1970’s as a research institution in the field of gallium
and gallium arsenide processing. The company’s portfolio covers gallium arsenide wafers and gallium
metal of 4N, 6N, and 7N purity. The gallium is refined from low purity primary gallium (3N, 4N) and fromrecycled waste material containing gallium (gallium arsenide, chloride, oxide).
Current capacity and production data are not available, the last reported data where recycling and refining
capacities of 25 t/a for the years 2006 – 2009 and a production between 16.75 t (2006) and 6.05 t (2009)(ROSKILL 2014).

South Korea
Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. began producing 6N primary gallium as a by-product of its zinc smelting operation at Onsan in the first quarter of 2010 with an estimated annual capacity of 10 t. After several facility
expansions between 2010 and 2012 the current capacity is estimated to be between 16 and 20 t/a (KOREAINVESTMENT 2012, ROSKILL 2014).

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
38

Ukraine
The Ukraine has estimated primary gallium production capacities of about 15 t/a. The gallium at purities of
99.99 % and 99.999 % is produced at the Nikolaev Alumina refinery owned by United Company RUSAL
Plc (RUSAL), which refines bauxite imported from Guyana and Guinea. The refinery has an annual
production capacity of 1.6 Mio. t of alumina. According to company information, the Nikolaev refinery iscurrently carrying out a program to boost the output of both alumina and gallium (RUSAL 2014).

United Kingdom
There is no primary gallium production in the UK.
5N PLUS UK Ltd. recovers and refines gallium from imported primary gallium metal and new scrap at theformer Mining & Chemical Products’ (MCP) Wellingborough plant. MCP, part of the Belgian based MCP
Group SA, was acquired by the Canadian 5N PLUS Inc. in 2011. 5N PLUS is specialized in the productionof minor metals including gallium. The Wellingborough plant is supplied primarily by Ingal Stade, Germany,
where 5N PLUS has a 50 % interest as part of the MCP acquisition. MCP refines gallium of 7N including
gallium tri-chloride and gallium oxide. Capacity is about 20 t/a (ROSKILL 2014).

USA
No primary gallium has been recovered in the USA since 1987 (JASKULA 2015a). There is only one company
which recovers and refines gallium from imported primary gallium metal and new scrap:
Molycorp Inc. is an American mining corporation headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA.
It is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of rare earth and rare metal products with 25 locations
across ten countries (MOLYCORP 2015a). Molycorp produces high purity gallium in 4N, 6N, 7N and MBE(8N) grades from high purity gallium arsenide scrap as well as by upgrading primary gallium from various
global producers.
Molycorp Blanding: Refining of gallium, both from scrap and from primary gallium takes place at its
Blanding plant in Utah. In 2013 and 2014, Molycorp produced 46 t and 57 t respectivetly of refined gallium from primary metal, and futher 13 t annually from scrap feedstock (the last includes production at its
Peterborough, Canada plant; see Canada section).
In the years 2012 and 2013, primary gallium was supplied primarily by Ingal Stade, Germany, where
Molycorp acquired a 50 % interest as part of the Molycorp Canada acquisition. In 2013 and the precding
second half of 2012, Molycorp purchased gallium from Ingal Stade for approximately 4.9 million US$ and3.3 million US$, respectively (MOLYCORP 2015c). In December 2014, however Molycorp decided to cease
purchasing gallium metal from Ingal Stade “… because the joint venture can no longer provide this metal
at a competitive price …” (MOLYCORP 2015b). In addition Molycorp manufactures gallium nitrate and gallium
oxide at the Blanding plant.
Molycorp Rare Metals Oklahoma: By taking over Neo Material in 2009 (see Canada section) Molycorp
acquired an 80 % interest in the Quapaw facility in Oklahoma, formerly known as Gallium Compounds.
Quapaw is recognized as a leading manufacturer of gallium tri-chloride.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
39

13 Demand
Global gallium consumption is estimated at 285 t in 2014 (RLJ 2014), a rise of merely 1 % compared to
the year before, but an increase of more than 70 % compared to 2009 (Figure 16).

Gallium Consumption [t]

300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Figure 16: Worldwide gallium consumption

The largest market for gallium is still in Japan, which consumed 97 t in 2013 (JASKULA 2015b). Its shareof the global market has fallen from about 80 % in the mid 2000s (ROSKILL 2014) to about 35 % in 2013,
while China’s demand grew rapidly to 67.5 t in 2013 (ICMLR, personal communication, October 22, 2014),
a share of 24 % of the global market. The USA ranks third with 37.8 t (13.5 %), similar to the European
market which is estimated at 30 – 40 t.
About 90 % of the global gallium demand is used in semi-conducting or semi-insulating (SC/SI) substrates and epitaxial layers of which 50 % accounted for integrated circuits (IC) and discrete field effecttransistors (FETs) and 38 % LEDs for general lighting and backlighting; 2 % are other SC/SI applications.
The remaining 10 % are photovoltaics (CIGS) (4 %), magnets (3 %) and other minor applications (3 %)(ROSKILL 2014; Figure 17).

Magnets
3%
Photovoltaics
4%

other
3%

other SC/SI2%

LEDs
38,0 %

IC,
FETSs
50 %

Figure 17: Worldwide gallium consumption by application (source ROSKILL 2014)

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
40

There are no up-to-date data for Japan’s gallium consumption by end use. Latest data provided by Dowa
in 2009 estimated 49 % for GaAs and GaP substrates, 46 % for epitaxial layers for the production of LEDs.
The remainder includes other, mainly GaN-based applications, which according to estimates of (ROSKILL
2014) has increased to about 20 % in 2013. Presently, Japan is by far the largest producer of GaN wafers,
accounting for about 85 % of worldwide production (JASKULA 2015b).
According to data sourced by the Fanya Metal Exchange, ROSKILL (2014) estimated China’s consumptionof gallium at 61 % for GaAs substrates and epitaxial layers for FETs, MIMICs and LED production, 24 % for
LED coating mainly by GaN epitaxial applications, 6 % for the production of the production of high strength
neodymium-iron-boron magnets, 4 % for solar energy applications, and 5 % for other minor applications.
In 2013, 74 % of the gallium consumption of the United States accounted for the production of ICs, 25 %to manufacture optoelectronic devices such as laser diodes, LEDs, photodetectors, and solar cells; 1 %accounted for research and development (JASKULA 2015b; Figure 18). Compared to 2012, gallium consumption for use in ICs increased by 21 % owing to an increased demand for third- and fourth-generation
smartphones, which use up to 10 times more GaAs than standard cellular phones, and by an increasing
demand for military applications. Owing to increased installation of CIGS solar cells, gallium demand fromthe solar cell and photodetector industry increased by 44 %. Gallium consumed for the production of laser
diodes and LEDs decreased by 19 % owing to China’s rapidly growing LED industry.
There are only few data concerning the market for gallium in Europe. We estimate the consumption ofgallium at about 30 – 40 t/a. Major manufacturers of gallium compound substrates and wafers, and solar
cells are located in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, and the UK (ROSKILL 2014). In
Germany, the Freiberger Compound Materials GmbH (FCM) is the biggest producer of GaAs wafers in
Europe with a worldwide share of 50 – 60 % for the production of 6” wafers (FCM, personal communication, March, 13, 2015).

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium41

US consumption by application
100
90

Demand [%]

80
70
60

7
4
3

1
1
15

1
0
2
10

4
3

3

2
2

2
3

1
4

7
37

21 18
8

1
3

49 52 51

5

1
9
15 14
3 18 171
7
0 0

63 61 46

6

40 46

50
81

40
30

9

6

2
1

57 59

7

59
62

2

5

1
5

1
6

6

8

59 69 63 65 60

1
11

63

59

3
4

2

2

53
1

42
40 38
35 38
32
32 31

20

2
8

1

21 18

10

19

2

2
2

3

18

22

10 13

28 27 30

22

0
1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

2013

45
40

Demand [t]

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Other

Integrated circuits: Digital

Integrated circuits: Analog

Research anddevelopment

Photodetectors andsolar cells

Laser diodes andlight-emitting diodes

Fig. 18: US consumption of contained gallium by end use (after JASKULA 2015b)

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
42

14 Prices
Gallium is not traded at the stock exchange. Prices are negotiated bilateral usually on a long term basebetween suppliers and customers. Between 1960 and 2013 prices for 6N gallium in the American metal
market fell on a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of – 3.1 %. The biggest drop in prices of more than
10 % occurred in the 1960s owing to improved commercial methods of metal extraction and an unchanged
demand. Since the 1980s gallium prices have been relatively stable in a range between 400 and 600 US$
on a CAGR of – 0.7 %, only occasionally interrupted by smaller peaks, i.e. in 2001 when rumors of supply
shortages owing to rising demand for gallium arsenide for new-generation mobile phones were spread(Figure 19).

Gallium: 99,9999% (6N)
3.000

2.500

[US$/kg]

2.000

1.500

1.000

500

0
1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

Figure 19: 6N Gallium prices, January 1960 to 2014

2.000
1.800

Gallium: min. 99.99 % (4N) fob China

1.600[US$/kg]

1.400
1.200
1.000
800
600
400
200
0
2000

2005

Figure 20: 4N Gallium prices, January 2001 to July 201520102015 2016

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
43

Prices for unwrought gallium (99.99 %, fob China) peaked at 1,840 US$/kg in April, 2001 for the same
reasons. By January 2002 the price had dropped to 368 US$/kg, followed by a long period of a price range between 300 and 400 US$/kg until March 2007. During the second and third quarter 2007 the prices
increased up to 735 US$/kg, which was attributed to the introduction of export licenses for Chinese gallium
exports, higher demand for gallium in gallium arsenide compound semiconductors for cellular phones, andfor AlInGaP and gallium phosphide compound semiconductors in LEDs (RLJ 2007). Lower demand during
the worldwide financial crisis lead to decreasing prices to levels before 2007. In 2011 prices rose again
up to nearly 940 US$/kg owing to expectations of a significant increase in demand in CIGS photovoltaic
cells and gallium nitride white LED (RLJ 2012) and tightness of supply as end users restocked inventories
after the financial crisis (JASKULA 2011). Prices decreased again to the former level at about 400 US$/kg
within one year when newly primary gallium capacities in China reached the market. By July 2015, prices
continued to fall steadily to 165 US$/kg as demand remained weak (Figure 20). This is a decrease ofnearly 80 % compared to the annual average of the year 2011. Between 2002 and the first half of 2015
prices for primary gallium decreased at a CAGR of -0.74 %.

15 Trade
Data on the global trade of gallium are difficult to obtain, as they are often incomplete and partially contradictorily. International trade code systems like the “Harmonized System” (HS) merged gallium with otherelements (i.e. HS Code 811292 “Unwrought gallium, hafnium, indium, niobium (columbium), rhenium;
waste & scrap; powders”) and only few national statistics provide more details by splitting the HS codesin national sub codes (i.e. 81129289 “Unwrought gallium; waste & scrap; powders”) in the European Combined Nomenclature (CN) system).
Data mainly provided by the Global Trade Atlas (GTA) shows exports of unwrought gallium at about
170 – 200 t/a during the last five years (Table 18). Principal exporters were China, Germany and theUnited Kingdom.
Table 18: Exports of unwrought gallium (HS 81) [in kg] (GTIS 2015, DESTATIS 2015, ASIAN METAL 2015)

Exports

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

China
Germany

49,00052,00035,00076,70083,90032,50048,20040,00037,60016,2005,000

10,00010,000

Kazakhstan
Russia11,000

9,000

1,000

Slovakia

13,00010,00012,000

4,000

8,000

South Korea

6,000

10,000

2,000

5,000

6,000

UK

39,00075,00021,00014,00025,000

Ukraine17,00011,0003,000

11,00010,000Total Exports

167,500

220,200

124,000

158,300

149,100

35 % of China’s gallium exports in 2013 were shipped to the United Kingdom, followed by Japan (28 %)and Germany (17 %) (Roskill 2014). In February 2015, China exports totaled 6,216 kg of “Wrough gallium
and products” (HS Code 81129990), of which 2,000 kg were shipped to South Korea, 1,900 kg to Germany,and 1,201 kg to Japan. This was a decrease of 29.8 % compared to December 2014, but an increase of
93.5 % compared to February 2014 (ASIAN METAL 2015).
Germany exported 162 t of unwrought gallium (HS Code 81129289) in 2014, a sharp decrease of morethan 50 % compared to the years before (Table 19, 20). Principal partners were the USA, the UnitedSupply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
44

Kingdom and Switzerland. German imports of unwrought gallium totaled at 382 t in 2014, a decrease of
3.3 % compared to the preceding year. Most of the gallium was imported from China, Slovakia and theUnited Sates (DESTATIS 2015).
Table 19: Germany: Imports of unwrought gallium (HS 81129289) [in kg] (DESTATIS 2015)

Imports

2009

2010

2011

2012

Austria

2014

100

Belgium
Canada

300

China

1,400

FranceHungary

2013

1,000

Japan
Netherlands

800

700

1,000

400

800

3,000

14,70020,900

100

100

100

200

200

1,700

1,300

100

2,600

900
100

900

7,800

400

600

Russia

2,000

900

300

100

Slowakia

5,000

13,00010,30011,900

1,600
200

1,100

UK

4,000

10,90018,50014,60020,9002,400

Ukraine

1,000

1,000

700

100

700

400

USA

4,000

6,200

10,300

2,900

100

3,300

Total Imports

17,00036,10046,40033,40039,50038,200South Korea

Table 20: Germany: Exports of unwrought gallium (HS 81129289) [in kg] (DESTATIS 2015)

Exports

2009

2010

2011

Australia
Austria

100

Canada

100

2012

2013

2014

100

100

100

100

100

100

200

China

800

100

100

Denmark

100

100

100

France

100

100

100

100

Italy

100

300

Japan
Luxembourg

100

Netherlands

100

200

Poland

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

1,300

300

100

Singapure

100

100

Slowakia

7,600

100

6,100

200

100

200

300

South Korea
Spain

100

100

Switzerland

1,000

3,600

5,000

4,500

3,300

200

UK

9,000

14,600900

9,400

14,100

7,000

USA

7,000

12,80033,70024,00012,7007,600

Total Exports

17,00032,50048,20040,00037,60016,200Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
45

The United States imported 57 t of unwrought gallium in 2014, an increases of more than 61 % compared
to 2013, Imports came from Germany (36 %), the United Kingdom (24 %), China (23 %), and the Ukraine(6 %).

16 Outlook for gallium supply and demand
Consumption of gallium rose at a CAGR of 2.47 % during the last decade but it is estimated that a growing
demand in all sectors of the semiconductor/semi-insulator market will lead to higher growth rates in the
coming years.
The use of LEDs, especially in general lighting applications will be the market with the most growth potential. The highest growth is forecast to be in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in China. According to
JASKULA (2015b) China’s LED lighting market will more than double from 3.1 billion US$ in 2013 to 4.7 billion US$ in 2017, and the of LED share of the lighting market in China will increase from 9.6 % to 18 %during this time, ROSKILL (2014) estimates a CAGR of 16,3 % for the worldwide general lighting sector
from 2014 to 2020.
Consumption of gallium (GaAs and GaN) in power management devices (MMICs, FETs) is estimated toincrease at a CAGR of 3.2 % from 2014 to 2020 (ROSKILL 2014) resulting mainly in increased production ofsmart phones, tablet computers, and modern LCD TVs. As for the LED market, highest growth rates are
forecast to the Asia Pacific region, especially to China.
Consumption of gallium in photovoltaic applications (CIGS) is estimated to increase at a CAGR of 4 %from 2014 to 2020 (ROSKILL 2014).
Based on the CAGR of 5.9 % for total gallium (ROSKILL 2014) consumption would amount to about 402 t in2020 and 535 t in 2025, an increase of 40 %, respectively 88 % compared to 2014.
Presently, the capacity for the production of primary gallium is estimated at about 680 t/a, So there ismore than sufficient gallium to meet any likely demand within the next ten years, even on reduced capacity
usage.
In addition to this, there are a few projects, which would bring additional capacities to the market:•••

The Canadian Orbite Aluminae Inc. will build a separation facility at its high-purity alumina (HPA) plant
located in Cap Chat, Quebec, to recover 4N gallium and other rare metals. Production capacity isreported to be 90 t/a of primary crude gallium. Production will start not before 2016 (CÔTÉ ET AL 2012,JASKULA 2015b).
The Canadian 5N Plus Inc., a producer of high-purity metals and compounds, and Rio Tinto Alcan, aglobal provider of bauxite, alumina and aluminium has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
regarding a project to recover gallium from an alumina production stream at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Vaudreuil
alumina facility in Quebec (5N Plus 2011).
Currently, there is no large-scale production of gallium in India. A capacity of merely 55 kg of primary
gallium is reported from Hindalco Industries Ltd,’s Renukoot alumina refinery (IMY 2015). There areplans in India to start the production of primary gallium: The National Aluminium Company (NALCO)
has invited expressions of interest (EOI) to source technology to build a gallium extraction plant, whichis expected to be set up at the company’s alumina refinery site in Damanjodi, State of Odisha. The
plant will have a capacity of 10 t/a and will produce gallium metal with 99.99 % purity (NALCO 2014).

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
46•

The Chinese China Shenhua Energy Company Ltd, is planning to extract gallium from fly ashes of its
Heidaigou Coal Mine in the Jungar Coalfield, Inner Mongolia. Gallium is significantly enriched in theno. 6 coal seam of the mine with an average content of 18.8 – 26.0 ppm (WANG ET AL. 2011). According
to company information gallium content is 32 – 37 ppm in the coal and 82 – 87 ppm in the fly ash. Gallium content in the mine is estimated at 857,000 t. Capacity for the production of 4N gallium, followedby higher purities later on, is planned at 600 t/a (personal communication, June, 2015).

Should these new capacities in fact enter the market, it would nearly double the existing capacities.

17 Summary and conclusions
The use of gallium compound based semiconductors has made gallium a high-tech metal in the past decades. The two main applications fields are integrated circuits (ICs, “Microchips”) and optoelectronic devices.
Gallium is recovered both as primary production, and secondary from recycled gallium-bearing scrap,
mainly from the wastes of the production of GaAs and GaN compound wafers, About 90 % of all primary
gallium produced is currently extracted as a by-product of bauxite during the refining of alumina, and onlya small amount of gallium is produced as a by-product of zinc extraction from sphalerite ore (ZnS).
Global capacities for the production of crude gallium amounted to 680 t of which more than 80 % are in
China, which has ramped up production capacities massively since the end of the 1990s. Outside China
the production capacities in Germany, Kazakhstan, South Korea, the Ukraine, Russia, Japan, and Hungary add up to about 123 t. World primary gallium production is estimated at 440 t in 2014, with China,
Germany, and Ukraine being the leading producers.
Worldwide secondary capacities are estimated at 200 t.
Refined gallium production in 2014 was about 170 t. Principal producers of refined gallium from primarymaterial were China, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. Principal producersof refined gallium from secondary material were Japan, China, the United Kingdom, the United States,
Slovakia, and Germany.
Global gallium consumption is estimated at 285 t in 2014. About 90 % of the global gallium demand isused in semi-conducting or semi-insulating (SC/SI) substrates and epitaxial layers for the production ofICs, FETs , and LEDs.
The largest market for gallium is still Japan, but China’s demand grew rapidly and is assumed to overtake
Japan within the next years.
Since 2003 prices for unwrought gallium (4N) have been relatively stable in a range around 200 US$ only
briefly interrupted by peaks in 2007 and 2011.
About 170 and 200 t/a of unwrought gallium was exported during the last five years, Principal exporters
were China, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Gallium supply exceeds gallium demand by far, so that the gallium market is over-supplied. There is morethan sufficient gallium to meet any likely demand within the next ten years.

Supply and Demand of Lithium and Gallium
47

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