Metlen Energy Metals (LSE:MTLN) has signed a long-term commercial agreement with a major Japanese chemical company to supply gallium, covering up to 16% of the group's total annual production from its Greek facility, which remains under construction.
The deal is the second strategic gallium supply arrangement Metlen has struck, following a July agreement to supply approximately 25% of the facility's annual output to a leading US technology company.
Financial terms of the new agreement are confidential, as they were with the earlier US deal.
Metlen said the facility's full planned annual output of 50 tonnes is now likely to be sold out months before commercial production begins in the third quarter of 2027.
"The successive commercial agreements we are announcing demonstrate that global industry is actively seeking reliable, high-quality and diversified supply sources," said executive chairman Evangelos Mytilineos, adding that Greece is "becoming part of a new global technology ecosystem."
The gallium project draws on research from Metlen's Aluminium of Greece plant and its Critical & Rare Metals sub-sector, part of the group's M Metals business unit, and has been designated a Strategic Project under the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act, with financing approved by the European Investment Bank under the REPowerEU framework.
Metlen describes itself as the first company in Europe to establish integrated gallium production and the first to secure a commercial supply agreement for European-produced gallium, feeding off proprietary technology and feedstock secured from its wholly owned Aluminium of Greece refinery.