Zirconium

Overview

Zirconium is a hard, silvery metal that is very resistant to corrosion. It barely absorbs neutrons, so most zirconium metal is used in nuclear power stations. Its oxide, zirconia, makes very strong, heat-resistant ceramics.¹

By tonnage, however, zirconium is mostly used as the mineral zircon rather than as metal. Zircon goes into ceramics, foundry sand, refractories and zirconium chemicals.²

Zirconium and its sister element hafnium are both on the US Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals.³ The EU lists hafnium as a critical raw material but not zirconium.⁴

Where it comes from

Zirconium occurs in about 30 minerals. The main ones are zircon (zirconium silicate) and baddeleyite (zirconium oxide); most baddeleyite comes from Brazil.¹ Zircon is recovered as a coproduct of mining heavy-mineral sands for titanium minerals. In the United States it is produced in Florida and Georgia, and from mineral-sands tailings in California.²

USGS estimates that world production of zirconium mineral concentrates fell 12% in 2025. Its narrative gives about 1 million t (gross weight), while its country table sums to about 1.24 million t, rounded to 1.2 million t. Australia and South Africa together supplied more than half, and they were also the leading exporters. China was the leading importer.²

• Australia400,000 t · 32%
• South Africa270,000 t · 22%
• Mozambique160,000 t · 13%
• United States100,000 t · 8%
• China100,000 t · 8%
• Senegal70,000 t · 6%
• Indonesia52,000 t · 4%
• Other countries91,000 t · 7%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS rounds it to 1.2 million t. US output is rounded by USGS to the nearest 100,000 t. "Other countries" groups Madagascar, Sierra Leone and the USGS "other countries" line. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Zirconium and Hafnium

New mineral-sands projects were under development in 2025 in Australia, Mozambique, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and elsewhere.²

Australia holds most known reserves.² US resources include about 14 million t of zircon associated with titanium resources in heavy-mineral-sand deposits.²

• Australia55,000,000 t · 71%
• South Africa5,900,000 t · 8%
• Indonesia3,400,000 t · 4%
• Senegal2,600,000 t · 3%
• Madagascar2,100,000 t · 3%
• Mozambique1,500,000 t · 2%
• Other countries6,990,000 t · 9%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS gives it as more than 70 million t. "Other countries" groups the United States, China, Sierra Leone and the USGS "other countries" line. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Zirconium and Hafnium

Natural zirconium contains 1–3% hafnium, which absorbs neutrons strongly and is chemically very similar to zirconium. Zirconium for nuclear use must therefore be separated from it.¹ Hafnium is obtained mainly as a by-product of zirconium.⁵ USGS does not publish world hafnium production or reserves.² In the EU's 2023 assessment, France refined 49% of global hafnium supply.⁵

What it is used for

Ceramics are the leading use of zircon in the United States. Other primary uses are foundry sand, refractories and zirconium chemicals.² The EU's 2023 assessment allocated half of EU zirconium use to ceramics, and only 3% to superalloys and nuclear applications.⁵

{{chart:end-uses}}

Zirconium metal is made by converting zircon to zirconium chloride and reducing the chloride with magnesium.¹ Its main uses are nuclear reactor components and chemical-process equipment, where corrosion resistance matters.¹ Zirconia is also used for ceramic tools and cubic zirconia gemstones, and zirconium compounds appear in cosmetics and food packaging.¹

Superalloys are the leading use of hafnium metal in the United States.² In the EU's 2023 assessment, superalloys took 61% of hafnium use, plasma-cutting tips 15% and nuclear control rods 11%.⁵

Grades and forms

Zirconium is traded as mineral concentrate, as chemicals and oxide, and as metal. USGS reports zircon trade on a zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) basis, calculated as 65% of gross weight.²

Trade and policy

The United States mines zircon but still imports some. In 2021–24 its zirconium ores and concentrates came mainly from South Africa (48%), Australia (35%) and Senegal (15%). Unwrought zirconium came mainly from China (55%), and unwrought hafnium mainly from Germany (54%) and China (21%). Both US imports and exports of zirconium mineral concentrates fell in 2025.²

Zirconium metal and hafnium metal are produced in the United States by one company in Oregon and one in Utah. The country is a net exporter of zirconium metal. China and Germany were the leading global exporters of unwrought hafnium in 2025.²

The EU depends entirely on imports of zirconium minerals, according to its 2023 assessment. South Africa supplied 38% of EU sourcing, Australia 30%, Senegal 11% and Mozambique 10%.⁵

Recycling and substitution

Companies in Oregon and Utah recycle zirconium from new scrap generated in metal production and fabrication, and from some old scrap. Zircon foundry cores and spent zirconia refractories are often recycled, but the amounts are not known. Very little hafnium is recycled.²

Chromite and olivine can replace zircon in some foundry uses, and dolomite and spinel refractories in some high-temperature uses. In nuclear applications niobium, stainless steel and tantalum offer some substitution. Boron or silver-indium-cadmium alloys can replace hafnium in reactor control rods.²

Sources

1. Zirconium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

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

3. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register. ↩

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

5. Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023 – Final Report. European Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵