Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.
Establishedprocessing and production concentration, not geological scarcity
Reported for this deposit
A property of a dataset or model, shown here for context — not an observation about this record.
Gallium's supply position, as the U.S. Geological Survey reports it, rests on where it is PROCESSED rather than on how much of it Earth contains: it occurs in very small concentrations in the ores of other metals, is recovered only as a byproduct, and one country accounted for 99 per cent of world primary low-purity production. Concentration of processing, not geological scarcity, is what the figures describe.
- assertion basis: SOURCE_REPORTED
- generality: DATASET_PROPERTY
- definition basis: Two things the survey states together — byproduct-only recovery, and a 99 per cent production share.
- assumption: This is not a criticality assessment and not a supply-risk score. It says what the reported figures are about, and Lithoen computes no risk index.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence · one source
Evidence: Survey 2025 · Primary authority
Establishedlow-purity primary and high-purity refined gallium are separately reported products with different producer sets
Reported for this deposit
A property of a dataset or model, shown here for context — not an observation about this record.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports low-purity primary gallium and high-purity refined gallium as separate products with separate statistics and different producing countries: China accounted for 99 per cent of world primary low-purity production, while Canada, China, Japan, Slovakia and the United States were the known principal producers of high-purity refined gallium. The element is one thing; the two traded products are two, and a country that refines gallium need not produce any.
- assertion basis: SOURCE_REPORTED
- generality: DATASET_PROPERTY
- definition basis: The survey's own product split, evidenced by it reporting the two separately and naming different producers for each.
- temporal basis: Producer sets and shares are as reported for 2024 in the January 2025 edition.
- assumption: The survey publishes no numeric purity threshold separating the two designations, so this records a designation and not a specification.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence · one source
Evidence: Survey 2025 · Primary authority
Establishedbyproduct of bauxite and zinc-ore processing; average 50 parts per million in bauxite
Reported for this deposit
A property of a dataset or model, shown here for context — not an observation about this record.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that primary gallium is recovered as a byproduct of processing bauxite and zinc ores, with most from bauxite and the remainder from zinc-processing residues, and gives the average gallium content of bauxite as 50 parts per million. Gallium availability is therefore a property of alumina and zinc processing capacity rather than of gallium deposits, and no rock is mined for it.
- assertion basis: SOURCE_REPORTED
- generality: DATASET_PROPERTY
- definition basis: What the survey reports about where primary gallium comes from, at global scope.
- assumption: Presence is not recoverability. That bauxite averages 50 parts per million gallium does not establish that gallium can be recovered from any particular bauxite, and the survey itself notes domestic zinc ores containing gallium from which none is currently recovered.
Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence · one source
Evidence: Survey 2025 · Primary authority