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Technical Insight

Gallium producers ramp up capacity to cope with explosive demand (Headline News)

In response to sharp increases in demand, major gallium producers have announced plans to increase capacity. GEO Gallium, the world s largest extractor of virgin gallium metal, plan to increase their output by more than four times in 2002. The company will spend $40 million to rebuild an existing extraction facility in Pinjarra, Western Australia. The plant was mothballed in 1997 when the market was flooded with exports from the former Soviet Union, and technical problems subsequently prevented its re-commissioning. Production is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2002, with what a company spokesperson described as "a very quick ramp up to the equivalent of 50 tons per year". The ultimate capacity of the plant is 100 tons. GEO also has capacity for extracting approximately 33 tons per year at a site in Germany. The total worldwide consumption of virgin gallium in 2002 was approximately 120 tons. (The term "virgin" refers to gallium which has been obtained by extraction from alumina ore, and is used to distinguish it from gallium obtained via recycling.) Feedstocks for the GEO facility will be supplied by ALCOA s alumina plant in Pinjarra. GEO will produce 4N (99.99%) gallium metal in Pinjarra that will then be purified to 6N, 7N and MBE grades at GEO s plants in Germany and France. "GEO is committed to aggressively expand its capacity to extract and purify gallium metal," said George Ahearn, GEO Specialty Chemicals CEO. "We are responding to the explosive demand for gallium in today s high-technology wireless and LED products. Our new facility will help stabilize the worldwide supply and demand for gallium. At the same time, this major expansion will solidify our position as a world leader in gallium production." Other new sources are coming on line as well. In recent months the Ukrainian government has announced that its Mykolayiv aluminum plant will increase their annual production of gallium from around 1.5 tons to 10 tons. Chinese sources are also increasing their output. Among the most important is the Great Wall Aluminum Company, which has licensed Sumitomo Chemical s gallium extraction technology. Great Wall plan to increase their output from 6 tons to 20 tons in 2002. Sumitomo Chemical previously ran its own gallium extraction operation in Japan, but it was rendered uneconomic by the high cost of utilities in that country. In recent months gallium spot market prices have risen as high as $3 000 per kg, nearly five times more than 2000 prices.
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