(Bloomberg) -- China’s move to ban exports of niche metals to the US is creating opportunities for Canadian producers — though tariff threats by the incoming Trump administration may limit their prospects.
A trio of Canadian firms produce North America’s relatively small supply of some key critical minerals used for high-tech and military applications. Prices of such metals have soared this month after China banned US-bound shipments of gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials. Beijing also placed tighter controls on sales of graphite as part of the escalating trade feud.
Canadian companies dabbling in these minerals include Teck Resources Ltd., Neo Performance Materials Inc. and Northern Graphite Corp. Other firms, including Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc., have projects in development to eventually produce such materials.
Neo Performance Materials is the sole producer of gallium in North America, with the Toronto-based firm relying on recycling to retrieve the metal used in semiconductors and tiny electronics. The material is recovered in a small facility run by 35 employees just outside Canada’s most populous city and then shipped to manufacturers in the US. The firm said it has fielded more calls from customers since China announced its export ban.
“The growth and success of industries like the US semiconductor industry is going to be dependent on having a supply of gallium that supports it,” Chief Executive Officer Rahim Suleman said in an interview. “There aren’t a lot of companies doing this outside China.”
Because China exported these metals so cheaply for so long, there are few facilities elsewhere in the world that process and extract them. Those that do, struggle to sell them at attractive prices.
Teck Resources Ltd., a metals producer better known for mining base metals, is one of the world’s largest producers of germanium, a byproduct of zinc ore processing. The metal is recovered at a smelter in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, 20 miles from the US border.
“We are examining options and market support for increasing production capacity of germanium,” spokesman Dale Steeves said in an emailed statement earlier this month.
The markets for these metals are tiny: combined, the US imported $48 million worth of germanium and gallium from worldwide sources in 2022, according to the United States Geological Survey. A quarter of its germanium and more than half its gallium supply was from China. The US also imported 42% of its graphite from the Asian nation.
While China’s ban may boost demand, President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Canada could limit opportunities. Still, Canadian producers hope they can circumvent such trade restrictions with an alternative source of materials the US relies on for military equipment, fiber optics, aerospace applications and medical procedures like chemotherapy.
Canada also offers a solution for graphite, which is used in lithium-ion batteries and electrical motors. China’s trade restrictions come as Australia’s Syrah Resources Ltd. has been forced to shut down one of the world’s largest graphite mines due to civil unrest in Mozambique. That could benefit Northern Graphite, which owns North America’s only operating mine for such material, in Quebec, though low graphite prices are an overhang.
“The Chinese export ban and the force majeure situation that Syrah is encountering in Mozambique is showing just how fragile the graphite supply chain is in the West,” CEO Hugues Jacquemin said in an interview.
“We are hearing from customers concerned about supply going forward,” he said. “The concern has not yet translated into a willingness to pay the higher prices that we and the industry need to charge to cover our cost structure and to be able to invest to bring on new production.”
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