Zinc Reserves by Country

China added 14,000 thousand metric tons in 2025, cutting Australia's lead to 4,000. Eight editions of the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries (2019-2026) supply the figures: estimated quantities that can be economically extracted. 12 countries appear in the table; 9 have reported 2025 values, and the listed 2025 total stands at 215,800 thousand metric tons. The source gives a rounded world total of 240,000 thousand metric tons.

Australia (64,000 thousand metric tons) leads China (60,000) by just 4,000. Russia (29,000) is a distant third, with Peru (18,000) and Mexico (14,000) further behind. USGS separately lists 25,000 thousand metric tons under Other countries without country attribution.

Zinc Reserves by Country

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#	Country	Latest Data (thousand metric tons)	Year
1	Australia AU	64,000	2025
2	China CN	60,000	2025
3	Russia RU	29,000	2025
4	Peru PE	18,000	2025
5	Mexico MX	14,000	2025
6	India IN	10,000	2025
7	United States US	9,300	2025
8	Kazakhstan KZ	7,400	2025
9	South Africa ZA	5,900	2024
10	Bolivia BO	4,800	2021
11	Sweden SE	4,100	2025
12	Canada CA	1800	2022

Australia has held at 64,000 since 2023; China's reserve estimate has changed every year since 2021.

China's surge meets Australia's standstill

China reported 44,000 thousand metric tons from 2018 through 2021, dipped to 31,000 in 2022, recovered to 44,000 and 46,000, then jumped to 60,000 in 2025 (+30.4%) — its highest figure in the span. Australia has reported 64,000 in every year since 2023 after drifting down from 69,000. The gap between them shrank from 18,000 to 4,000 in a single year.

Six movers, both directions

Peru fell 2,000 (-10.0%) and Kazakhstan 200 (-2.6%) while India added 200 (+2.0%), Sweden 200 (+5.1%) and the United States 100 (+1.1%) — five small moves around China's large one. Only Russia (29,000), Mexico (14,000) and Australia stood still. The six changes ranged from 100 to 14,000 thousand metric tons, with China's increase accounting for most of the movement.

Missing values and long slides

South Africa reported 6,200 in 2023 and 5,900 in 2024 but has no 2025 value; Bolivia has no reported value after 2021, while Canada's series ends with 1,800 in 2022. Kazakhstan slid from 13,000 in 2018 to 7,400, and the United States from 11,000 to 6,600 before recovering to 9,300. The lower half of the historical table combines missing later values with long-term declines, while the top two are now separated by only 4,000.

Zinc Reserves by Country

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#	Country	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
1	Australia	64,000	68,000	68,000	69,000	66,000	64,000	64,000	64,000
2	China	44,000	44,000	44,000	44,000	31,000	44,000	46,000	60,000
3	Russia	-	22,000	22,000	22,000	22,000	25,000	29,000	29,000
4	Peru	21,000	19,000	20,000	19,000	17,000	21,000	20,000	18,000
5	Mexico	20,000	22,000	22,000	19,000	12,000	14,000	14,000	14,000
6	Kazakhstan	13,000	12,000	12,000	12,000	7,400	6,700	7,600	7,400
7	United States	11,000	11,000	11,000	9,000	7,300	6,600	9,200	9,300
8	India	10,000	7,500	10,000	9,100	9,600	7,400	9,800	10,000
9	South Africa	-	-	-	-	-	6,200	5,900	-
10	Bolivia	4,800	4,800	4,800	4,800	-	-	-	-
11	Canada	3,000	2,200	2,300	5,400	1800	-	-	-
12	Sweden	1400	3,600	3,600	3,700	4,000	4,100	3,900	4,100

Methodology

Figures come from the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019-2026, with 2025 values estimated. Units are thousand metric tons, as reported by USGS. Empty means the source reported no value; 0 means the source reports zero. The source’s world total, where published, may be rounded, approximate, a lower bound, or a textual estimate, so shares are computed against the sum of the listed countries. Reserves and production are different measures and should not be combined without equalizing units.