Mineral Commodities

Zinc

World mine production and reserves, 2024–2025

On the U.S. 2025 critical minerals listUSGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026

Share of world mine production, 2025 · world total 13 million metric tons

  • China 32%
  • Peru 12%
  • Australia 8.5%
  • India 6.7%
  • Mexico 6%
  • United States 5.2%
  • Bolivia 3.8%
  • Russia 3.3%
  • All other countries 23%

China accounted for 32% of world mine production of zinc in 2025 (4.1 million metric tons of 13 million metric tons). The largest reserves are in Australia (27% of the world figure), not in the top producer. World reserves equal about 18 years of 2025 output at that rate, the shortest of the 19 commodities where both figures exist. The United States was a net exporter of ores and concentrates in 2025.

Producer log

10 countries listed separately

World mine production and reserves. Units: thousand metric tons, zinc content. 2025 figures are USGS estimates.
CountryMine production 2024Mine production 2025Share of world 2025Change on 2024ReservesShare of world reserves
China4,0004,10032%+2.5%60,00025%
Peru1,2701,50012%+18%18,0007.5%
Australia1,1001,1008.5%0%64,00027%
India8708706.7%0%10,0004.2%
Mexico7737806%+0.9%14,0005.8%
United States7596705.2%−12%9,3003.9%
Bolivia5125003.8%−2.3%not available
Russia3104303.3%+39%29,00012%
Kazakhstan3803602.8%−5.3%7,4003.1%
Sweden2392301.8%−3.8%4,1001.7%
Other countries1,7302,00015%25,000
World total11,90013,000100%+9.2%240,000100%

Output versus reserves

same commodity, two measures

Mine production, 2025

  • China 32%
  • Peru 12%
  • Australia 8.5%
  • India 6.7%
  • Mexico 6%
  • All other countries 36%

Reserves (world 240 million metric tons)

  • Australia 27%
  • China 25%
  • Russia 12%
  • Peru 7.5%
  • Mexico 5.8%
  • All other countries 23%

Reserves are the part of identified deposits that USGS considers economic to extract now; they change as prices, technology and surveys change. At the 2025 rate, the world reserve figure equals about 18 years of output.

United States

supply, trade and import sources

Net exporter

Net import reliance (ores and concentrates) in 2025, as a percentage of apparent consumption. “E” marks years when the United States exported more than it imported.

2021E
2022E
2023E
2024E
2025E

Import sources of ores and concentrates, 2021–24

  • Peru 50%
  • Canada 19%
  • Turkey 18%
  • South Korea 7%
  • Other countries 6%

Uses named for it in the 2025 critical minerals list: coatings for iron and steel.

United States, 2021–2025 (thousand metric tons, zinc content, unless the row says otherwise). W = withheld by USGS; NA = not available; 2025 estimated.
Item20212022202320242025
Production: Mine, zinc in concentrates704766766759670
Production: Refined zinc220220220220220
Imports for consumption: Ores and concentrates135181820
Imports for consumption: Refined zinc701762705590600
Exports: Ores and concentrates644644641660630
Exports: Refined zinc138322
Shipments from Government stockpile—1NANANA
Consumption, apparent, refined zinc908974921808820
Stocks, reported producer and consumer, refined zinc, yearend114133105110110
Employment, number: Mine and mill2,4802,5002,6302,5102,600
Employment, number: Smelter, primary220220340340340
Net import reliance as a percentage of apparent consumption: Refined zinc7677767373
Open in the producer explorerWhere the reserves are not where the mines are Which mineral outputs grew or shrank in 2025

Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Zinc chapter (PDF page 220). How to read these figures.