MethodologyContact usSupportLogin
Key takeaways:
“The time and place to produce gallium and germanium in the West is right now,” Christian Kargl-Simard, chief executive officer of Blue Moon, told Fastmarkets in a recent interview.
Blue Moon announced the acquisition of the mine, which previously produced germanium, gallium and copper, from Teck on February 27 and confirmed it had been completed on Monday March 16.
The deal is linked to the company’s goal of turning the Springer tungsten mine in Nevada – bought in February 2026 – into a processing hub that could produce copper and zinc concentrates.
Under the Apex agreement, Blue Moon will operate the mine, while Teck has secured offtake rights and will receive a 0.5% revenue share from the deal through a net smelter return royalty, the announcement said.
Apex used to be the primary producer of gallium and germanium in the US in the 1980s and 1990s but has since been inactive, according to Blue Moon.
But the market has since evolved, Kargl-Simard explained.
“Since Apex last operated in 1996, the market and growth trajectory for germanium and gallium uses have exploded, making this asset, located in the US, very strategic,” Kargl-Simard said.
The US is fully reliant on imports of gallium, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Data from the agency showed that the US imported 25 tonnes of gallium metal in 2025.
Blue Moon’s aim is to “open a path” to produce gallium and germanium in the US, according to the company’s CEO.
“With Apex, our intention is to supply 100% of the domestic demand of germanium and 50-100% of the gallium for 10-plus years,” Kargl-Simard said.
Further technical studies, metallurgical testing, and permitting are still required for the company to meet its target to start production in 2028, he added.
While Blue Moon has outlined a roadmap to start production at Apex, however, its plans to refine gallium and germanium into standard-grade metal are still uncertain.
Teck can produce germanium-based products like germanium dioxide at its Trail refinery but is not currently thought to have the ability to refine gallium, Fastmarkets understands.
“It is possible the material can get processed elsewhere based on maximizing the returns for all parties,” Kargl-Simard said.
“Teck and Blue Moon are committed to finding a mutual solution to recover gallium as a major contributor to the domestic North American market. We have already received interest from 3rd parties to purchase all the gallium from Apex,” he said.
Other companies such as US Critical Materials, Nimy Resources, and Panther Metals are also developing methods to extract gallium from tailings and secondary sources.
But producing these metals at a commercially viable scale in the West remains constrained by access to smelting and processing capacity.
Gallium and germanium have attracted increasing interest after China, which produces most of the world’s gallium and germanium, announced export controls on both metals in July 2023.
Prices of these metals have increased sharply ever since.
European gallium prices are around six times higher than in China, while germanium prices are roughly three times higher than in China, according to Fastmarkets data.
Fastmarkets most recently assessed the price for gallium 99.99% Ga min, in-whs Rotterdam at $1,800-1,900 per kg on March 18. In comparison, in the first session after export controls were announced, Fastmarkets assessed the price at $265-301 per kg on July 5 2023.
Fastmarkets’ assessment for germanium 99.999% Ge, in warehouse Rotterdam, meanwhile, was $6,500-8,000 per kg on March 18. And in the first session after export controls were announced, Fastmarkets’ assessment of the price was $1,350-1,400 per kg on July 5 2023.
With gallium prices outside of China at such elevated levels, the incentive to produce the metal has been strong.
In December 2025, Korea Zinc announced plans to build a US smelter after buying Nyrstar’s Clarksville plant, which could produce some 54 tonnes of gallium per year from 2030.
Later, in January, aluminum supplier Atlantic Alumina said that they had plans to produce 50 tonnes per year of gallium at their facility in Louisiana, supported by a $150 million investment from the US government.
Rio Tinto and Indium Corporation also have a project to produce commercial quantities of gallium from Rio Tinto’s Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Quebec, Canada.
Collectively, this rush of non-China pipeline production far exceeds China’s pre-export control levels.
Western suppliers have responded less strongly to boost germanium production. This relates to relatively higher existing germanium production capacity in the West, even though, like gallium, China dominates supply of the metal, Fastmarkets understands.
Blue Moon’s core intention behind the Apex mine acquisition was to focus on producing gallium and germanium, Kargl-Simard said. But priorities could shift toward tungsten if market conditions support the move, he said.
“The current tungsten price would likely support the acceleration of Springer Tungsten over the Blue Moon ores, although a final decision will not be made until later in the year,” Kargl-Simard said.
“If we do Springer tungsten first, we could have the tungsten mine in production [by] Q4 2027,” he said.
Tungsten is a dense, high-temperature-resistant metal that is essential for armor-piercing ammunition and missile technology.
The metal moved into the spotlight following China’s export controls, and even further attention has been drawn towards the tungsten market, amid rising demand, in light of its various aerospace and defense applications.
Tungsten’s price has risen by 534% over the past year, Fastmarkets data shows.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for tungsten ammonium paratungstate (APT), 88.5% WO3 min, cif Rotterdam and Baltimore duty-free was $2,100-2,400 per mtu WO3 in the week to Friday March 13, up by over 7% from 2,000-2,195 per mtu WO3 on March 6.
In comparison, Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment of this price a year before was $340-370 per mtu WO3 in the week to Friday March 14 2025.
Despite higher tungsten prices, however, Kargl-Simard noted that it still remains uncertain if prices will stabilize to warrant a change in approach to the company’s project investment.
“To try to predict the long-term price of tungsten with what’s occurred and what is occurring geopolitically is almost like closing your eyes and picking a spot, but the incentive price for North American tungsten production is likely in the $1,000-1,500 [per tonne] range,” he said.
Claire Patel-Campbell in London contributed to this story
Inform your base metals strategy with metals price forecasts and analysis for the global base metals industry. Get a free sample of our base metals price forecast today.