Germanium Ore

Germanium is important to defense and law enforcement because of its use in technologies like infrared night vision and satellite solar cells. Infrared optics & fiber-optics depend on germanium crystals. Most germanium production is concentrated in a few countries—Canada, China, Finland, and Russia. The United States is completely dependent on imports for its germanium consumption. Image credit: By Alchemist-hp (talk) (www.pse-mendelejew.de) - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4272283