Fluorspar

Overview

Fluorspar is the commercial name for the mineral fluorite, calcium fluoride (CaF₂). Pure fluorite contains 48.67% fluorine; it has a Mohs hardness of 4 and a density of about 3.18 g/cm³.¹

Its importance comes from that fluorine. Acid-grade fluorspar is converted into hydrogen fluoride (HF), the feedstock for virtually all fluorine-bearing chemicals, particularly refrigerants and fluoropolymers, and for chemicals used to process aluminum and uranium. HF is also used as a catalyst in petrochemicals and for cleaning and etching in semiconductor manufacturing.² Some analysts expect lithium-ion batteries, which use HF in cathode materials and electrolyte salts, to drive much of the future growth in demand.³

Fluorspar is on the US 2025 List of Critical Minerals and on the EU list of critical raw materials.⁴⁵

Where it comes from

Economic fluorspar deposits occur in low- to high-temperature hydrothermal veins and in stratabound deposits. Fluorite also occurs as an accessory mineral in granites, pegmatites, carbonatites and alkaline intrusions.¹ Phosphate rock holds far more fluorine: world phosphate rock reserves contain the equivalent of about 5 billion t of pure fluorspar, some of which is recovered as fluorosilicic acid (FSA) at phosphoric acid plants.²

World mine production fell by an estimated 1% to about 10 million t in 2025. China produced about 6.0 million t, and Mexico and Mongolia about 1.5 million t each.² The EU's 2023 assessment put China's share of global supply at 56%.⁶

• China6,000,000 t · 59%
• Mexico1,500,000 t · 15%
• Mongolia1,500,000 t · 15%
• South Africa410,000 t · 4%
• Vietnam160,000 t · 2%
• Spain140,000 t · 1%
• Other countries525,000 t · 5%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS rounds it to 10 million t. US production is not available. Other countries includes Brazil, Iran, Thailand, Pakistan, Germany and Tajikistan. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Fluorspar

Chinese mine supply remained constrained in 2025 by rectification measures on fluorspar mining, with some mines suspended for safety inspections. China's imports in the first half of 2025 rose by 48% to 856,000 t, and 86% of them came from Mongolia.²

New supply is being developed. In 2025 a Canadian mine idled since 2022 restarted and shipped its first acid-grade fluorspar, a new mine in Xinjiang, China, began operating, and other projects were in development or reopening in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mongolia, Mozambique and the United States.²

World reserves are about 330 million t, a third of them in China.²

• China110,000,000 t · 33%
• Mexico68,000,000 t · 21%
• South Africa41,000,000 t · 12%
• Mongolia34,000,000 t · 10%
• Vietnam16,000,000 t · 5%
• Spain15,000,000 t · 5%
• Other countries45,700,000 t · 14%

USGS world total (rounded). Other countries includes Iran, Thailand and Brazil. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Fluorspar

What it is used for

Making HF is the largest use, at about half of global fluorspar consumption in 2022. Steelmaking flux took 23%, and aluminum fluoride and cryolite for primary aluminum smelting took 19%.³

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In steelmaking, fluorspar increases slag fluidity. In aluminum smelting, alumina is dissolved in a molten bath made mostly of cryolite, with aluminum fluoride added to control the bath chemistry.³ Smaller uses include cement, enamels, glass, iron and steel casting, and welding rod coatings.²

Grades and forms

Fluorspar is traded in two main grades defined by CaF₂ content, and the US tariff schedule uses the same 97% threshold. Allowable impurities, moisture and particle size can matter as much as CaF₂ content in deciding what a product can be used for.³

Trade and policy

The United States has not reported significant fluorspar mine production since 1995 and, excluding sales from stockpiles, is 100% net import reliant. In 2025 one company likely sold fluorspar from stockpiles at a limestone quarry in Illinois, and another was building a mine and lump-processing plant in Utah.²

US imports were an estimated 380,000 t in 2025, almost all of it acid grade. The main sources in 2021–24 were Mexico (64%), Vietnam (12%), China (10%) and South Africa (9%). Fluorspar of both grades, HF and aluminum fluoride enter the United States duty-free under normal trade relations.²

Domestic fluorine also comes from by-products. The US Department of Energy sells aqueous HF recovered when it converts depleted uranium hexafluoride at Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. In 2025 about 45,000 t of FSA, equivalent to about 73,000 t of pure fluorspar, was recovered at three phosphoric acid plants, and one company in North Carolina made HF from FSA.²

For the EU, the main supplier in the 2023 assessment was Mexico, with 33% of EU sourcing.⁶ Fluorspar is a critical, not a strategic, raw material under the Critical Raw Materials Act.⁵

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

Recycling and substitution

Synthetic fluorspar can be made by neutralizing waste from uranium enrichment, petroleum alkylation and stainless-steel pickling, but impurities limit its use. Primary aluminum producers recycle HF and fluorides from their smelting operations.²

FSA has been used instead of fluorspar to produce aluminum fluoride and HF. In fluxing, aluminum smelting dross, borax, calcium chloride, iron oxides, manganese ore, silica sand and titanium dioxide have been used as substitutes.²

Sources

1. Handbook of Mineralogy: Fluorite. Mineralogical Society of America, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

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

3. 2022 Minerals Yearbook: Fluorspar (advance release). U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

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

5. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

6. Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023 – Final Report. European Commission, DG GROW, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²