Nobody Opens a Mine for These Metals. Governments Are Paying for Them Anyway
Nobody opens a mine to produce gallium, and nobody opens one to produce scandium. Gallium comes out of bauxite refining and, in smaller volumes, zinc processing. Scandium was produced exclusively as a by-product in 2025, mostly from nickel and titanium streams and processed residues, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Both sit on the USGS list of 60 critical minerals published in November 2025, alongside every rare earth element. By-product supply does not answer to its own price. It answers to whatever the host metal is doing. That structure is why a near-surface system carrying all ...