Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson launched Ottawa's $2 billion Canada critical mineral accelerator fund with a $400 million commitment to expansion of key capacity in Teck Resources Ltd.'s Trail smelter. Photo by Tracy Leigh

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By volume, germanium is a small byproduct of the thousands of tonnes of zinc refined by Teck Resources Ltd.’s smelter in Trail in southeastern B.C., but it is a critical mineral that is behind a major investment that Ottawa is making in a planned $850 million expansion of the operation.

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Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said Tuesday in Trail that Ottawa wants to take “an equity-like” stake of up to $400 million in the expansion, which would double the smelter’s capacity to produce germanium, antimony and possibly new gallium.

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Teck CEO Jonathan Price said in a statement that the Trail smelter, with a history that stretches back 130 years, is “a cornerstone of North America’s critical minerals ecosystem,” and that Ottawa’s investment created the “potential to deliver new supply of strategic metals while providing strong returns for Teck shareholders.”

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Teck is completing a merger with rival Anglo American Plc and its commitment to an $850 million expansion of the Trail smelter, 400 kilometres east of Vancouver, which would secure 1,400 jobs at the facility, was key to Ottawa’s approval of the merger.

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And Tuesday, Hodgson said Ottawa would look to negotiate offtake agreements for some of the future production of those critical minerals — germanium, antimony and gallium — to bolster Canada’s strategy to secure a critical-minerals supply chain.

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Here are the answers to some questions about how important germanium is and where it fits in that strategy.

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Germanium is a hard, greyish-white mineral with a metallic lustre that is brittle like glass. It is a semiconductor that is useful in fibre optics, infrared night vision systems and other technological applications, according to a U.S. Geological Survey information sheet.

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The mineral is primarily a byproduct of zinc mining, but can also be associated with lead and copper mineralization, according to Natural Resources Canada. Teck, through its Trail operations, is one of the world’s largest producers of germanium, supplying several grades of the refined element including fibre-optic-grade germanium dioxide, according to the company.

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Teck lays claim to being one of the world’s largest producers of zinc, some coming from its Antamina copper mine in northern Peru, but most coming from its massive Red Dog open pit zinc and lead mine 170 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in northwest Alaska.

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Concentrates from the Alaska mine are shipped to the Trail smelter, which refines 19 different products in total including zinc, lead, gold, indium, cadmium and germanium.

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Fibre optics, computer chips and other technologies that use germanium only need small amounts of the element, but it is crucial to their function. China is the world’s No. 1 producer of the trio of minerals germanium, antimony and gallium, and at the end of 2024, it slapped a U.S. export ban on their production.