Germanium is scarce in the Earth’s crust and does not exist in mineable deposits. Its elemental form is extracted as a byproduct of zinc and coal mining.Â
Umicore’s sourcing strategy of elemental germanium is deliberately broad, globally diversified and sustainable: we abandoned coal-based sourcing in 2022, only using zinc-based sources and recycled germanium since then. Today, more than 50% of our germanium feed comes from our own recycling technology. We produce germanium from the recycling of production scrap and complex waste streams from both our own operations and from industries such as fiber optics, solar cells and LEDs, among others.
This closed-loop approach reduces dependency on zinc mining while strengthening sustainability and supply security.
