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List of Figures
Figure 1. End use applications of indium ................................................................................................. 3
Figure 2. Indium supply and demand forecasts ...................................................................................... 4
Figure 3. The high-level value chain for indium....................................................................................... 6
Figure 4. Distribution of world indium, gallium, and tellurium resources and production ................. 8
Figure 5. Share of primary indium refinery production by country (2009 to 2013) ............................ 14
Figure 6. Tonnes of primary indium refinery production by country (2009 to 2013) ......................... 15
Figure 7. Permissible Chinese export levels from 2008 to 2013 .......................................................... 16
Figure 8. Smelting of zinc ores to yield zinc slabs and indium precipitate ........................................ 19
Figure 9. Advanced refining of indium from the precipitates of zinc smelting .................................. 20
Figure 10. Indium value chain and overall recovery efficiency ............................................................ 22
Figure 11. Indium supply (2011) .............................................................................................................. 24
Figure 12. Short-term primary indium supply. including pipeline efficiency improvements ............ 25
Figure 13. Geographic distribution of secondary refined indium ........................................................ 29
Figure 14. An example of recycling LCDs from discarded mobile phones using vaporization ....... 31
Figure 15. Comparison of short-term primary and total indium supply .............................................. 33
Figure 16. Comparison of short-term total indium supply under differing assumptions of pipeline
efficiency ............................................................................................................................................. 33
Figure 17. Illustrative medium-term indium supply curve .................................................................... 35
Figure 18. Indium value chain and overall recovery efficiency ............................................................ 43
Figure 19. Medium-term base case primary indium supply projected to 2016 and 2031 (indium
production growth in base case is solely due to zinc production growth) .................................. 45
Figure 20. Medium-term primary indium supply (2016) ........................................................................ 46
Figure 21. Medium-term primary indium supply (2031) ........................................................................ 46
Figure 22. Medium-term primary indium supply (2016), including positioning of known potential
future sources of supply .................................................................................................................... 47
Figure 23. Comparison of medium-term primary and total indium supply in 2016 ............................ 49
Figure 24. Comparison of medium-term primary and total indium supply in 2016 ............................ 50
Figure 25. Market price versus concentration of metal in typical ore ................................................. 52
Figure 26. Market price versus concentration of metal in typical ore, including confidence intervals
from linear regression results ........................................................................................................... 53
Figure 27. Historical zinc and tin prices in 2011 USD as indicated ..................................................... 66
Figure 28. Short-term primary indium supply curve ............................................................................. 72
Figure 29. Short-term primary indium supply, including pipeline efficiency improvements ............ 74
Figure 30. Medium-term base case primary indium supply projected to 2016 and 2031 .................. 76
Figure 31. Medium-term primary indium supply (2016) ........................................................................ 77
Figure 32. Medium-term primary indium supply (2031) ........................................................................ 78
Figure 33. Medium-term primary indium supply (2016), including positioning of known potential
future sources of supply .................................................................................................................... 78
Figure 34. Abundance of elements in the Earth’s upper continental crust as a function of atomic
number ................................................................................................................................................. 79
