News: Suppliers
27 April 2026
Indium Corp gains $3.2m DOE TRACE-Ga grant to establish domestic high-purity gallium recovery
Indium Corp of Clinton, NY, USA (a supplier of refined gallium, germanium, indium and other specialty technology metals) has been awarded a $3.2m grant by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) to develop a domestic process for recovering high-purity gallium from manufacturing by-products — a critical step toward establishing a secure, domestic supply chain for a material essential to modern defense systems, semiconductors, and advanced electronics.
Indium Corp is one of five organizations selected under the DOE’s Technology for Recovery and Advanced Critical-material Extraction – Gallium (TRACE-Ga) initiative, which aims to rapidly prototype novel technologies for gallium recovery from US metal processing feedstocks. The USA has not produced gallium domestically since 1987 and remains 100% net import reliant.
“This project marks an important step toward restoring domestic gallium production for the first time in nearly 40 years,” says president & CEO Ross Berntson. “Our efforts will support the commercialization of innovative technologies, strengthen domestic critical minerals production, and advance supply chain independence.”
Work under the grant will be conducted at Indium Corp’s facility in Rome, New York, which already hosts the metal-processing infrastructure, utilities, and in-house analytical capabilities needed to develop, validate and scale a domestic gallium recovery process.
As a producer of gallium metals, alloys and compounds, including gallium trichloride, gallium acetylacetonate, and gallium oxide, Indium Corp generates substantial quantities of gallium-bearing scraps during routine production. The project will leverage established electrochemical methods and advanced purification techniques to convert gallium-bearing residues into high-purity metallic gallium suitable for reuse in semiconductors, electronics, and energy technologies.
Indium Corp’s TRACE-Ga work will proceed in two phases. Phase 1 will design and validate a prototype capable of producing reclaimed metallic gallium. Phase 2 will scale the technology to a production-ready system capable of producing at least 1 metric ton of 4N-grade (99.99% pure) gallium per year, with the potential to expand capacity as commercial demand grows.
“Gallium is foundational to the electronics and defense industries, and being selected to help restore domestic production is something our team takes great pride in,” comments Berntson.
The TRACE-Ga initiative is managed by ENERGYWERX in partnership with DOE under a Partnership Intermediary Agreement established by the DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization. The agreement is designed to broaden DOE’s engagement with innovative and non-traditional partners to accelerate the development and deployment of energy solutions.
US DOE selects five projects to restart domestic primary gallium recovery
Indium Corp extracts gallium from feed sourced at Rio Tinto’s Quebec aluminium operation
