Bismuth

Overview

Bismuth is a dense, silvery metal with a pink tinge. It is brittle, so it is usually alloyed with other metals. It has no known biological role and is non-toxic.¹ It melts at a relatively low 271 °C. That low melting point, together with its low toxicity, makes bismuth useful in fusible alloys and as a replacement for lead in plumbing brass, free-machining metals and solders.²

Bismuth is critical because refining is concentrated in one country. China accounted for 88% of world production in 2025, and it has required export licences for bismuth since February 2025.²³ Bismuth is on the US critical minerals list, and the EU lists it as both a critical and a strategic raw material.⁴⁵

Where it comes from

Bismuth minerals rarely occur in large enough amounts to be mined for themselves. Bismuth is most often a by-product of processing lead ores. In China and Vietnam it is also a by-product or co-product of tungsten and other metal ores, and in Japan and the Republic of Korea of zinc ores. The Tasna Mine in Bolivia, inactive since 1996, and one mine in China are the only mines where bismuth has been the main product.² It is also recovered when copper, tin, silver and gold ores are refined.¹

World refinery production was an estimated 16,000 t in 2025, of which China produced 14,000 t. The Republic of Korea, Japan and Laos were the next-largest producers.²

• China14,000 t · 86%
• Korea, Republic of1,000 t · 6%
• Japan500 t · 3%
• Laos500 t · 3%
• Other countries280 t · 2%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS rounds it to 16,000 t. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Bismuth

Reserve and resource data for bismuth are generally not reported at mine or country level, so world reserves are hard to quantify. USGS does not publish a reserves table for bismuth, and no reserves chart is shown here. Production-capacity figures were also unavailable.²

The United States stopped producing primary refined bismuth in 1997. Some lead ores mined in the United States contain bismuth. However, the last US primary lead smelter closed at the end of 2013, and lead concentrates have been exported for smelting since then.²

What it is used for

Most US bismuth goes into chemicals for cosmetic, industrial, laboratory and pharmaceutical uses. Bismuth subsalicylate is the active ingredient in over-the-counter stomach remedies. Other compounds are used to treat burns, intestinal disorders and stomach ulcers. Bismuth nitrate, oxychloride and vanadate are used in ceramic glazes, crystalware and high-performance and pearlescent pigments.²

In metallurgy, bismuth is added to malleable cast iron to improve its integrity. It is a non-toxic replacement for lead in brass, free-machining aluminum alloys and steels, and solders. Its use in brass for pipe fittings, fixtures and water meters grew after 2014. That year the US Safe Drinking Water Act definition of "lead-free" was tightened, cutting the maximum lead content of pipes and fixtures to 0.25% from 8%.²

Fusible bismuth alloys are used to hold optical lenses during grinding, to plug abandoned oil wells, and to trigger fire sprinklers. Bismuth-tellurium-oxide paste is used to make semiconductor devices.² Bismuth alloys with tin or cadmium are also used in fire detectors, electrical fuses and solders.¹ USGS does not publish an end-use breakdown by share, so no end-use chart is shown.

Grades and forms

The main traded form is refined metal. US trade statistics split it into metal containing more than 99.99% bismuth and other metal, alloys and scrap.²

Trade and policy

The United States relied on imports for 92% of its bismuth consumption in 2025. In 2021–24, imports came mainly from China (56%), the Republic of Korea (22%) and Germany (13%).²

On 4 February 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs placed export controls on items related to tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum and indium (Announcement No. 10 of 2025), with immediate effect. The bismuth items covered are bismuth metal and products (including ingots, blocks, beads, granules and powders), bismuth germanate, triphenyl bismuth and tri-p-ethoxyphenyl bismuth. The related production technology and data are also covered. Exporters need a licence from the commerce ministry.³ USGS describes the controls as a response to the 10% US tariffs on Chinese goods imposed in February 2025. It estimates that US imports of bismuth metal from China fell by 40% in 2025, to about 460 t from 760 t in 2024.²

In the EU, bismuth is a strategic raw material under the Critical Raw Materials Act. The Act sets 2030 benchmarks: 10% of EU consumption from EU extraction, 40% from EU processing and 25% from recycling. No more than 65% of any strategic raw material should come from a single third country.⁶⁵

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Recycled bismuth-containing alloy scrap is estimated to have supplied up to 10% of US apparent consumption in 2021–25.²

Several uses have substitutes. In pharmaceuticals, bismuth compounds can be replaced by alumina, antibiotics, calcium carbonate and magnesia. Titanium-dioxide-coated mica flakes can replace them in some pigments. Cadmium, indium, lead and tin can partly replace bismuth in low-temperature solders. Free-machining alloys can use lead, selenium or tellurium instead. Glycerin-filled glass bulbs can replace bismuth alloys in sprinkler triggers.²

Sources

1. Bismuth: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Bismuth. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

3. Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs: Export Controls Imposed on Tungsten, Tellurium, Bismuth, Molybdenum, and Indium-Related Items. Shanghai Metals Market, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

4. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

5. EU critical raw materials. European Commission, Joint Research Centre (RMIS), accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

6. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩