The Australian government has this week made public further details of its planned Critical Minerals Reserve, saying it will stockpile specific minerals, including gallium, antimony, and rare earth elements.
While there are plenty of rare earth companies listed on the ASX, potential gallium producers are a bit harder to find, so I've done the work for you.
Image source: Getty Images
Top-tier producer
First cab off the rank, and the most advanced potential producer, is major aluminium company Alcoa Inc (ASX: AAI).
Alcoa announced last October that it would be working with both the US and Australian governments on a gallium plant to be co-located at the company's Wagerup alumina refinery in Western Australia.
Under a non-binding agreement announced at the time, the governments and the company would contribute capital to the project, "and receive gallium offtake in proportion to their interests''.
As Alcoa said at the time:
Among other purposes, the capital would be used for preparation of final feasibility studies, and the development and construction of the project. Definitive agreements for the gallium joint venture will be prepared among the governments of the United States, Australia and Japan, and Alcoa and (Japanese company) Sojitz.
Gallium is naturally present in bauxite, the raw material used in the production of alumina, and can be extracted during the refining process. Gallium is a critical mineral essential to technology, especially the semiconductor industry and defence sectors and is recognized as vital to national security by the United States, Australia and Japan. Globally, gallium production is concentrated from a single source, and market controls have heightened interest in establishing and securing alternate supply chains.
Juniors also stepping up
The other Australian companies with potential gallium projects are at the exploration and development phase, and often are also in the rare earths exploration sector.
One such company is RareX Limited (ASX: REE), which just this week announced it had been granted a mining lease for its Cummins Range project in Western Australia.
The company said the grant of the lease materially derisked the project, where it aims to mine rare earths, gallium, scandium and phosphate.
RareX in November said a historical review of drilling results at Cummins showed "extensive deposits of gallium-rich clays''.
The company also stated at the time that Cummins was "technically Australia's largest undeveloped rare earths project."
Another junior developer looking at progressing a gallium project is Mt Ridley Mines Ltd (ASX: MRD),
Mt Ridley Mines stated in a mid-December release that gallium at its Mount Ridley project was found within the same clay horizons being assessed for rare earths.
It went on to say:
The company currently expects that gallium mineralisation may represent a potential by-product opportunity within a rare earth element-focused processing flowsheet and is actively engaged with leading industry participants within allied Western jurisdictions to support the evaluation and development of appropriate processing pathways, rather than under a standalone gallium processing route.
And finally there is Victory Metals Ltd (ASX: VTM) which is aiming to develop a project in the Cue region of WA, targeting rare earth elements as well as scandium, hafnium and gallium.
Victory published a mineral resource estimate in August and said at the time the project could play a "pivotal role as a future supplier of critical minerals''.
