According to Mining-Journal, US Critical Materials has announced the discovery of a high-grade gallium deposit at Sheep Creek in Montana, described as “strategically significant”.
Gallium is listed as a critical mineral by every major economy, utilized in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) indicates that US consumption of gallium is entirely dependent on imports, with 98% coming from China.
Last year, the company warned that decades of underinvestment had led to the US’s severe reliance on imported raw materials. The Pentagon has already planned to fund gallium and germanium recovery from wastewater under the National Defense Authorization Act.
Jeff Jurgensen, a spokesperson for the US Department of Energy, stated, “A five-year exploration and development plan for gallium and germanium has begun, and by the fiscal year 2025, we will be fully capable of producing native metals.”
In December last year, this private rare earth exploration company signed an agreement with the Idaho National Laboratory to jointly develop new rare earth processing methods, including the separation of gallium.
“It’s not just because of the high grade of gallium, but also because we are confident in developing environmentally friendly separation processes,” said company president James Hendrick. “The project’s gallium grade averages 0.03%, with a peak of 0.137%, while the grade for commercial development is as low as 0.005%.”
[Source – 上海有色网] 美国羊溪稀土矿发现高品位镓 https://news.smm.cn/news/102679449