Roughly 80% to 90% of the global germanium supply comes from Russia and China, and China has blocked all exports of germanium to the U.S. as part of the ongoing dispute.
Our western source, primarily the only western source in North America at the moment, is the Red Dog mine, which is owned by Teck. That germanium is recovered down at the smelter in Trail. The Red Dog mine is scheduled to end production in 2031, which is not that far away.
Germanium is one of those critical metals we're all discussing here today that are instrumental in a lot of our modern technologies, whether it's our fibre optics, computer chips or LEDs. From the military perspective, it's necessary for night-vision goggles, sensors and such. It is critical. It's found with our zinc mineralization in our project, but we in the west desperately need to have a source in friendly hands.