Rhenium

Overview

Rhenium is a dense, silvery metal with one of the highest melting points of any element; among metals only tungsten melts at a higher temperature. It was isolated in Berlin in 1925 by Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke and Otto Berg. It is among the rarest elements in the Earth's crust, at about 0.001 parts per million, and does not form minerals of its own.¹

World output is tiny, about 81 t of primary metal a year, yet rhenium is essential for the hottest parts of modern jet engines, where it improves the strength of nickel-base superalloys above 1,000 °C.²

Rhenium was added to the US list of critical minerals in November 2025.²³

Where it comes from

Most rhenium occurs with molybdenum in porphyry copper deposits. It is recovered from the flue dusts and gases released when molybdenum disulfide concentrates are roasted. Rhenium is also associated with copper minerals in sedimentary deposits in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia and Uzbekistan, where rhenium-bearing residues are recovered at copper smelters.²¹ The US government classes it as a by-product of molybdenum and copper.³

World mine production was an estimated 81,000 kg (81 t) in 2025, up 1% from 79,800 kg in 2024. Chile produced about 37% of the total.²

• Chile30 t · 37%
• China20 t · 25%
• Poland10 t · 12%
• United States9.8 t · 12%
• Uzbekistan7 t · 9%
• Other countries4.2 t · 5%

Converted from kilograms (USGS world total 81,000 kg). Primary rhenium recovered with copper and molybdenum only; secondary production is excluded and no estimate is available for Russia. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rhenium

In the United States, rhenium products are recovered from roasting molybdenum concentrates from porphyry copper-molybdenum mines in Arizona and Montana. US primary production rose 5% to an estimated 9,800 kg in 2025.²

Reserves are large but only partly quantified. The USGS lists Chile (1,300,000 kg), the United States (400,000 kg), Russia (310,000 kg), China (200,000 kg), Kazakhstan (190,000 kg) and Armenia (95,000 kg), and gives no world total. Identified US resources are about 7 million kg.²

What it is used for

Superalloys for high-temperature turbine engine components account for an estimated 80% of US rhenium use, and petroleum-reforming catalysts for about 15%.²

{{chart:end-uses}}

• Superalloys. Rhenium improves the strength of some nickel-base superalloys at temperatures above 1,000 °C, which is why it is used in turbine blades for jet engines.²¹
• Catalysts. Bimetallic platinum-rhenium catalysts are used in petroleum reforming to produce high-octane hydrocarbons for lead-free gasoline.²
• Other uses. Rhenium alloys are used in crucibles, electrical contacts, heating elements, thermocouples, X-ray targets, filaments, semiconductors and other applications.²¹ Several molybdenum-rhenium medical implants have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.²

Grades and forms

Rhenium leaves the molybdenum roaster mainly as ammonium perrhenate (APR), metal powder and perrhenic acid. APR contains 69.42% rhenium; metal is commonly traded as pellets of 99.9% purity.²

Trade and policy

The United States relied on imports for 75% of its rhenium supply in 2025. Apparent consumption rose by an estimated 34% to 38,000 kg, and imports of unwrought rhenium and powder rose by 83%. In 2021–24 total imports came from Chile (31%), Canada (27%), Germany (16%) and Poland (14%), with 12% from other countries.²

The Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, published on 7 November 2025, added rhenium, copper, lead, potash, silicon and silver to the 2022 list based on the USGS's updated methodology.² The final list includes 60 minerals.³ Rhenium was assessed in the EU's 2023 criticality study but was not classed as a critical raw material.⁴

Recycling and substitution

Recycling is a significant source. Nickel-base superalloy scrap and scrapped turbine blades and vanes are processed hydrometallurgically into rhenium metal, or turned into engine revert, a superalloy melt stock. Spent platinum-rhenium catalysts are recycled in a closed loop back to oil companies or catalyst producers. Industry sources put global secondary production at 20,000 to 25,000 kg in 2025, excluding catalyst recycling. The United States and Germany are the leading producers of secondary rhenium.²

In reforming catalysts, an iridium-tin alternative has achieved commercial success, and gallium, germanium, indium, selenium, silicon, tungsten and vanadium are being evaluated. In other uses, rhodium and rhodium-iridium can replace rhenium in high-temperature thermocouples, and tungsten and tantalum can be used for electron emitters.²

Sources

1. Rhenium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rhenium. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (90 FR 50494). Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³

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