Which minerals depend most on one country
Of the 72 mineral commodities for which USGS publishes a numeric world total in its main 2025 table, 28 had a single country supplying more than half of world output, and 9 had one country above three quarters. China is the extreme case: it accounted for 99% of gallium in 2025. China is the top producer in 35 of the 72 tables and holds the majority share in 20 of the 28 where one country passes 50%.
The measure used here is simple: take the largest single-country share in each table. It ignores how the rest of the output is spread, which is why the table below also gives the combined share of the three largest producers and the number of countries USGS lists separately. A mineral with a 40% leader and nineteen other listed producers is a different market from one with a 40% leader and two others.
The most concentrated minerals
| Mineral | Top producer | Its share | Top three | Countries listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallium | China | 99% | 100% | 3 |
| Mercury | China | 94% | 99% | 5 |
| Niobium | Brazil | 93% | 99% | 6 |
| Silicon | China | 87% | 94% | 12 |
| Magnesium metal | China | 86% | 94% | 7 |
| Bismuth | China | 86% | 95% | 7 |
| Tungsten | China | 79% | 85% | 11 |
| Tellurium | China | 78% | 90% | 8 |
| Natural graphite | China | 78% | 86% | 18 |
| Lime | China | 74% | 81% | 22 |
| Cobalt | DR Congo | 73% | 90% | 12 |
| Vanadium | China | 72% | 96% | 4 |
| Platinum-group metals | South Africa | 71% | 93% | 5 |
| Titanium metal and titanium dioxide | China | 70% | 91% | 6 |
| wollastonite | China | 70% | 95% | 4 |
| Rare earths | China | 69% | 90% | 12 |
| Indium | China | 69% | 91% | 8 |
| Iodine | Chile | 68% | 96% | 7 |
| Nickel | Indonesia | 67% | 79% | 9 |
| Manufactured abrasives | China | 61% | 74% | 9 |
Several of the most concentrated tables describe processed products rather than ore. The gallium table counts low-purity primary metal, which USGS notes is recovered mainly as a by-product of processing bauxite; the bismuth, indium and tellurium tables count refinery output; silicon and magnesium metal count smelted metal. A country can lead such a table without mining the ore itself. The figures describe where the 2025 tonnage was produced, not why; the USGS tables give quantities, not reasons.
Leaders other than China
China is not the only dominant producer. Among the minerals where one country supplies more than half of world output, these are led by other countries: niobium (Brazil, 93%), cobalt (DR Congo, 73%), platinum-group metals (South Africa, 71%), iodine (Chile, 68%), nickel (Indonesia, 67%), strontium (Iran, 56%), beryllium (the United States, 53%), tantalum (DR Congo, 52%). In each case the second producer is far behind; the gap is visible in the drill-core bar at the top of each mineral page, where one colour fills most of the bar.
The least concentrated
At the other end, 14 minerals had no country above 25% of world output. The most widely spread was gold, where the largest producer, China, accounted for 12%. Bulk industrial minerals such as gypsum, salt, feldspar and nepheline syenite and clays sit in this group, and their tables list between 10 and 23 producing countries each.
Gold and copper are spread out too. Chile led copper mine production with 23%, and China led gold with 12%. For gold, “Other countries” alone accounted for 30% of world output, more than any single listed producer.
Did concentration rise in 2025?
Comparing each table’s top-producer share in 2025 with the same country’s share of the 2024 world total gives a rough answer. Of the 72 minerals where both years have numeric totals, the leading producer’s share rose by more than one percentage point in 14, fell by more than one point in 14, and moved less than a point in the other 44. The largest gain was in strontium, where Iran went from 50% to 56%; the largest drop was in lithium, where Australia went from 37% to 32%.
How to read a share
A share is the country’s 2025 figure divided by the USGS world total for the same table. Two cautions apply. First, the 2025 figures are estimates, often rounded to two significant digits, so a share of 31.7% should be read as “about a third”. Second, USGS can only list countries that report or can be estimated; output it cannot attribute goes into “Other countries”, shown as a hatched section on the bars. A rank therefore means a position among listed producers.
Shares also depend on which stage of production a table describes. For aluminum the main table is smelter production, for bauxite it is mine output, and the two give different leaders. Each mineral page names its table, and the producer explorer uses the same main table.
What concentration does not show
A high share in mine output says nothing about who owns the mines, who buys the product, or where it is refined. Several of the most concentrated minerals in this table are refined products (silicon, magnesium metal, titanium sponge), while others are ores. The country pages show, for each producer, every table in which USGS lists it, so the difference between mining and refining strength is visible country by country.
Sources
U.S. Geological Survey, 2026, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: doi.org/10.3133/mcs2026. Shares, ranks and changes are worked out from the USGS tables as described on Reading the figures. Look up any mineral in the producer explorer.