Rio Tinto and its new partner Indium Corporation have successfully extracted the first primary gallium as part of a research and development project, which ultimately aims to produce commercial quantities of the critical and strategic mineral present in the bauxite processed in Rio Tinto’s Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Quebec, the only one in Canada.

This preliminary step was done in Indium Corporation’s research and development facility located in Rome, New York.

The next phase of the project involves the assessment of extraction techniques to enable the production of larger quantities of gallium at pilot-scale. If successful, Rio Tinto plans to build a demonstration plant in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, financially supported by the government of Québec, with a capacity of up to 3.5 tonnes of gallium per year. The transition to a commercial-scale plant could see production reach 40 tonnes annually, representing between 5 and 10% of current world gallium production.

Primary gallium is used in key sectors including the manufacture of integrated circuits vital to modern technologies such as high-performance radar, smartphones, electric cars and laptops. Gallium is produced in limited quantities globally with only an estimated 600 metric tonnes per year, all from outside North America.

In addition to aluminum, copper, iron ore and titanium dioxide, Rio Tinto already produces a wide range of critical minerals in its North American facilities, including scandium used in aluminum alloys, tellurium for solar panels, lithium for EV batteries and molybdenum for steel alloys. Other research and development initiatives are ongoing to evaluate the possibility of extracting new materials from the company’s existing operations and reinforcing the supply chain for these materials.