According to Congolese state miner Gecamines, China's restrictions on the export of germanium goods would increase the price of the semiconductor material, adding value for the Democratic Republic of the Congo as it prepares a new unit to produce it.
Invoking national security concerns, China on Monday announced export limits on select gallium and germanium components, worrying global semiconductor and defense businesses, according to a report by the American news agency, Reuters.
"We will produce germanium (to replace material) that's unavailable for the market," Gecamines' chairman Guy Robert Lukama told Reuters.
According to another American news agency, Bloomberg, China’s clamping down on exports of gallium and germanium, two obscure yet crucial metals, is an escalation of the trade war on technology with the US and Europe.
Germanium ores are rare and most germanium is a by-product of zinc production and from coal fly ash. According to the European business organization Critical Raw Materials Alliance (CRMA), China produces around 60% of the world's germanium, with the remaining 40% coming from Canada, Finland, Russia, and the United States.
Meanwhile, Gallium can be found in trace levels in bauxite and zinc ores, and gallium metal is created during the bauxite processing step in the production of aluminum. The CRMA estimates that China produces about 80% of the total.
Congo, currently the largest producer of copper and cobalt in Africa, intends to search for minerals like lithium, tin, and rare earth that can help the world's transition to a low-carbon economy.
Due to China's dominance in the manufacture of the metals used in computer chips and other products, the germanium and gallium export restrictions that went into effect on August 1 may possibly disrupt global supply chains.
Germanium and gallium projects are being considered in Australia, Europe, and the United States, according to Nyrstar, a global manufacturer of minerals and metals, which spoke to Reuters.
The restrictions on Chinese shipments will not have any effect on Canada's Teck Resources (TECKb.TO), the largest producer of germanium in North America, according to a statement sent to Reuters through email.