List of the largest zinc producers

Zinc production by country

The list of the largest zinc producers shows tables and graphics with precise information on zinc .

overview

In 2018, the People's Republic of China (4.2 million tons), Peru (1.5 million tons), Australia (1.1 million tons), the USA (824,000 tons) and India (750,000 tons) were the world's most important mining nations of Zinc ore , which made up 67 percent of the 12.5 million tons mined worldwide.

Large deposits exist in Australia, the People's Republic of China, Mexico and Russia. In Europe there are important mining areas in Ireland, Sweden, Russia and Poland. There were also zinc ore deposits in Germany, for example in Brilon , Stolberg and near Eschweiler in the Rhineland , on Rammelsberg in the Harz Mountains , Freiberg or near Ramsbeck in the Sauerland .

The largest zinc mine in the world is Hindustan Zinc's (now Sterlite Industries ) Rampura Agucha mine in India with an annual production of 759,000 tons. In second place is Teck Resources' Red Dog Mine in Alaska with an annual production of 538,000 tons. This is followed by the Century Mine in Australia (Queensland) operated by OZ Minerals with 513,000 tons per year. In Europe, Lisheen (175,000 t / year) and Tara (167,000 t / year) in Ireland and Pomorzany (75,000 t / year) in Poland are the largest zinc mines. Numerous mines are expected to close over the next few years because most of the deposits have been exploited. These include Lisheen (Ireland), Iscaycruz and Paragsha (Peru) and Golden Gove (Australia).

The main producers of metallurgical zinc in 2007 were the People's Republic of China (3.71 million tons), Canada (802,000 tons), South Korea (686,000 tons), Japan (598,000 tons) and Australia (584,000 tons) which together make up 55.5 percent of the world’s generated was 11.50 million tons. Major producers of metallurgical zinc in Europe are Spain, Germany, Finland, Russia and Belgium.

Reserves

The United States Geological Survey distinguishes between the following two categories:

• The reserve base is that portion of an identified resource that meets the specific minimum physical and chemical criteria for current mining and production practices, including grade , quality , thickness and depth . The publication of data on the stock base was stopped by the USGS in 2009.
• The reserves are that part of the supply base that could be economically extracted or produced at a given time. The term does not have to mean that extraction systems are installed and working. Reserves only contain exploitable substances.

The reserves of the countries with the greatest production are listed here.

Figures in thousands of tons (2018)

rank	country	advancement	Reserves
1.	Australia	1.110	68,000
2.	People's Republic of China	4,170	44,000
3.	Mexico	691	22,000
4th	Russia	300	22,000
5.	Peru	1,470	19,000
6th	Kazakhstan	304	12,000
7th	United States	824	11,000
8th.	India	750	7,500
9.	Bolivia	480	4,800
10.	Sweden	234	3,600
11.	Canada	287	2,200
	Other countries	1,840	34,000
	world	12,500	250,000

advancement

By country

The following table contains all countries whose annual production in 2018 was over 10,000 tons. The zinc content of ores and concentrates is given. All figures relate to the states within their current borders.

Production in thousands of tons

Rank (2018)	country	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2016	2017	2018
1.	People's Republic of China	100.0	150.0	618.9	1,780.3	3,842.2	4,710.5	4,300.0	4,100.0
2.	Peru	299.1	487.6	583.9	910.3	1,470.5	1,337.1	1,473.0	1,474.7
3.	Australia	487.2	495.3	933.0	1,419.0	1,475.0	884.8	852.2	1,111.9
4th	United States	484.6	317.1	543.2	851.9	748.1	805.0	774.0	790.0
5.	India	8.4	32.2	70.0	198.8	729.9	755.8	784.0	723.0
6th	Mexico	262.6	238.2	322.5	392.8	570.0	661.6	671.4	662.4
7th	Bolivia	45.8	50.3	103.8	149.1	411.4	489.3	527.2	519.6
8th.	Kazakhstan	330.1	424.8	297.6	322.1	453.5	357.0	345.0	345.0
9.	Russia	198.1	254.9	178.6	136.0	214.0	248.0	292.0	315.0
10.	Canada	1,253.1	1,058.7	1,203.2	1,002.2	649.1	301.2	346.8	293.8
11.	Sweden	93.4	175.8	164.1	176.8	198.7	258.3	251.2	237.7
12.	Turkey	24.0	23.3	39.1	48.0	195.5	118.7	155.9	184.5
13.	Brazil	24.0	105.0	158.0	100.3	211.2	158.2	156.3	167.0
14th	Ireland	96.5	223.0	166.4	263.0	342.5	147.8	130.6	131.7
15th	Iran	0.0	30.0	14.8	102.0	128.0	157.3	140.0	130.0
16.	Eritrea	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	40.9	95.4	125.0
17th	Spain	98.1	183.1	257.5	202.4	17.3	76.3	70.5	106.4
18th	Namibia	46.1	25.4	40.5	32.9	204.2	124.7	123.1	100.9
19th	Burkina Faso	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	81.4	92.7	99.2
20th	Finland	62.6	59.4	53.9	16.1	55.6	45.9	66.3	85.3
21st	Tajikistan	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	73.9	41.2	84.2
22nd	Portugal	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	6.4	69.5	71.4	75.4
23.	Morocco	17.8	9.4	21.2	105.1	43.7	53.9	51.7	56.0
24.	Mongolia	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	56.3	50.1	41.4	44.0
25th	Poland	242.0	216.7	178.0	156.9	107.7	50.1	45.0	41.9
26th	Cuba	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	40.0
27.	North Korea	130.0	130.0	100.0	34.0	38.0	66.5	35.7	35.0
28.	North Macedonia	0.0	0.0	0.0	12.2	32.9	24.9	27.8	30.4
29	Honduras	15.5	19.6	29.0	43.1	33.8	14.6	20.4	28.4
30th	South Africa	0.0	87.8	74.8	62.7	36.1	26.7	30.8	28.1
31.	Uzbekistan	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	12.0	37.0	27.0
32.	Pakistan	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	9.1	7.7	19.5	27.0
33.	Chile	1.5	1.1	25.1	31.4	27.7	42.9	29.0	26.8
34.	Saudi Arabia	0.0	0.0	2.5	3.0	4.9	41.6	21.7	22.8
35.	Bulgaria	76.4	70.0	35.3	10.1	9.9	18.8	19.2	21.7
36.	Greece	8.2	24.4	26.7	16.8	18.4	18.9	17.3	21.4
37.	Indonesia	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	8.5	13.9	20.1
38.	Argentina	39.0	33.7	38.7	34.9	32.6	26.7	26.8	20.0
39.	Myanmar	3.7	4.1	1.7	0.4	8.6	6.1	13.1	12.3
40.	Vietnam	0.0	10.0	10.0	22.0	36.0	12.0	12.0	12.0
41.	Nigeria	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	9.7	6.8	11.7
42.	Serbia	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.6	11.7	11.9	11.7
43.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.5	9.7	10.2	10.6

World funding

The following table shows the world production of zinc ore in thousands of tons.

World production in thousands of tons

year Prod. 1900 479 1901 510 1902 547 1903 574 1904 629 1905 660 1906 704 1907 738 1908 723 1909 775 1910 810 1911 895 1912 971 1913 939 1914 795

year Prod. 1915 760 1916 882 1917 901 1918 849 1919 719 1920 682 1921 464 1922 730 1923 889 1924 986 1925 1,190 1926 1,410 1927 1,420 1928 1,360 1929 1,320

year Prod. 1930 1,260 1931 904 1932 709 1933 892 1934 1,060 1935 1,210 1936 1,330 1937 1,470 1938 1,420 1939 1,500 1940 1,470 1941 1,590 1942 1,630 1943 1,830 1944 1,870

year Prod. 1945 1,470 1946 1,440 1947 1,600 1948 1,690 1949 1,730 1950 2,150 1951 2,360 1952 2,590 1953 2,670 1954 2,660 1955 2,900 1956 3.110 1957 3,150 1958 2,950 1959 3,020

year Prod. 1960 3,090 1961 3,490 1962 3,570 1963 3,660 1964 4.030 1965 4,310 1966 4,500 1967 4,840 1968 4,970 1969 5,340 1970 5,460 1971 5,520 1972 5,440 1973 5,710 1974 5,780

year Prod. 1975 5,850 1976 5,690 1977 5,920 1978 5,850 1979 5,990 1980 5,950 1981 5,950 1982 6.130 1983 6,280 1984 6,520 1985 6,760 1986 6,840 1987 7.190 1988 6,770 1989 6,820

year Prod. 1990 7.150 1991 7,270 1992 7,250 1993 6,910 1994 7,050 1995 7,280 1996 7,480 1997 7,540 1998 7,570 1999 7,960 2000 8,770 2001 8,910 2002 8,880 2003 9,520 2004 9,590

year Prod. 2005 9,930 2006 10,000 2007 10,900 2008 11,600 2009 11,100 2010 12,200 2011 12,400 2012 13,500 2013 13,500 2014 13,300 2015 13,500 2016 12,600 2017 13,200 2018 12,500 2019 e 13,000

Metallurgical production by country

All figures relate to the states within their current borders.

Production in thousands of tons

Rank (2018)	country	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2016	2017	2018
1.	People's Republic of China	100	155	763	1,957	5,209	6,196	6.220	5,681
2.	South Korea	2	79	257	475	750	1.009	962	1,000
3.	Canada	413	592	592	780	691	691	598	695
4th	India	23	44	79	204	740	672	791	688
5.	Spain	89	152	253	391	517	507	523	526
6th	Japan	676	735	687	654	574	534	524	521
7th	Australia	261	306	303	498	499	464	462	490
8th.	Mexico	85	145	199	235	328	321	327	336
9.	Peru	71	64	118	200	223	342	312	334
10.	Kazakhstan	269	422	420	263	319	326	331	318
11.	Finland	57	147	163	223	307	291	285	295
12.	Brazil	11	96	154	199	288	284	245	286
13.	Belgium	241	249	357	264	260	236	249	275
14th	Netherlands	47	170	209	217	264	283	248	268
15th	Russia	215	338	336	241	241	247	257	255
16.	Norway	61	79	125	138	149	171	172	191
17th	Germany	316	387	350	357	165	168	174	180
18th	Poland	209	217	132	173	135	161	162	160
19th	France	224	253	264	318	163	149	166	155
20th	Italy	142	207	248	170	105	140	129	132
21st	United States	866	370	358	371	249	126	132	130
22nd	Iran	0	0	0	53	120	135	140	130
23.	Bulgaria	76	91	75	84	94	76	74	75
24.	Uzbekistan	70	110	200	73	50	68	70	59
25th	Namibia	0	0	0	0	152	91	83	58
26th	North Korea	90	105	110	37	36	15th	15th	15th
27.	Vietnam	0	10	0	0	16	11	11	11
28.	Algeria	0	25th	24	26th	31	3	1	2
29	Zambia	53	34	11	0	0	1	0	1
30th	Argentina	32	39	34	39	43	0	0	0

Web links

• US Geological Survey
• British Geological Survey

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} United States Geological Survey: Zinc Statistics and Information
2. ^ ^{A b} British Geological Survey: World mineral statistics archive