Prospector Trails
Minerals/Steel and alloy metals
Chromium is the key ingredient of stainless steel; it is supplied as chromite ore and smelted into ferrochrome.
01 · Where it's mined
Chromite output was about 51 Mt (gross weight) in 2025: South Africa 23 Mt (about 45%), Turkey 9 Mt and Kazakhstan 7 Mt, then India, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Finland. South Africa and Kazakhstan hold most reserves.
Mine production, marketable chromite ore, gross weight, 2025. Columns on the globe show each country's share.
02 · A century of output
03 · Where it goes
Chromium ores and concentrates, 2024, by value
Arcs run from exporter to importer; thicker means more value. CEPII BACI reconciled trade data.
04 · What it's used for
Stainless steel drives demand.
05 · Who calls it critical
Critical for the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Korea and China.
06 · Mines to know
Spikes mark mines with output in open data; height follows reported output. Where a public source says where a mine's product goes, an arc runs to that plant.
Every chromium mine and project, by countryThe detail
Chromite output was about 51 Mt (gross weight) in 2025: South Africa 23 Mt (about 45%), Turkey 9 Mt and Kazakhstan 7 Mt, then India, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Finland. South Africa and Kazakhstan hold most reserves.
Stainless steel drives demand.
Critical for the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Korea and China.
In 2025, the United States consumed an estimated 4% of world chromite ore production in various forms of imported materials, such as chromite ore, chromium chemicals, ferrochromium, chromium metal, and stainless steel. Imported chromite ore was consumed by one company to produce chromium chemicals. Stainless-steel and heat-resisting-steel producers were the leading consumers of ferrochromium. Stainless steels and superalloys require the addition of chromium via chromium-containing scrap, chromium metal, or ferrochromium. The value of chromium material consumption was estimated to be $720 million in 2025 (as measured by the value of net imports, excluding stainless steel), which was a 15% decrease from $852 million in 2024.
South Africa was the leading chromite ore producer. Global chromite ore mine production was estimated to have increased by 3% in 2025 compared with production in 2024. Challenges related to shifting market demands, particularly in China, combined with deep-level mining and labor costs and an unreliable supply of electricity could affect production in South Africa. Investment, major expansions, and new mines may increase the production of chromite ore in Brazil, Kazakhstan, and Zimbabwe. China was the leading ferrochromium- and stainless-steel-producing country and the leading chromium-consuming country. However, the production of stainless steel in China has been affected by oversupply and decreases in consumer demand, which may have contributed to decreases in the price of ferrochromium. Potential export controls and tariffs on chromite ore from South Africa may also affect ferrochromium production in China.
Chromium has no substitute in stainless steel, the leading end use, or in superalloys, the major strategic end use. Chromium-containing scrap can substitute for ferrochromium in some metallurgical uses.
In 2025, recycled chromium (contained in reported stainless-steel scrap receipts) accounted for 21% of apparent consumption.
World resources are greater than 12 billion tons of shipping-grade chromite, sufficient to meet conceivable demand for centuries. World chromium resources are heavily geographically concentrated (95%) in Kazakhstan and southern Africa; United States chromium resources are mostly in the Stillwater Complex in Montana.