Fluorspar: Characteristics
Why grade sets the whole market
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 10.0 Mt (2025e), down 1% from 10.3 Mt in 2024 | China 6.0 Mt, Mexico 1.5 Mt, Mongolia 1.5 Mt, South Africa 0.41 Mt, Vietnam 0.16 Mt and Spain 0.14 Mt in 2025. The US also recovered about 45 kt of fluorosilicic acid (about 73 kt fluorspar equivalent) from phosphate plants. | USGS MCS 2026, Fluorspar |
| Inventory and stock levels | not published | There is no exchange or official stock. The US has no government stockpile, and one Illinois company sold from by-product stockpiles. China's import surge (856 kt in H1 2025, +48%) suggests thin domestic stocks after mine safety suspensions. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | China's output was held back by safety rectification and mine suspensions in 2025. Downstream, China Kings Resources reported its hydrofluoric acid plants running nearly at full capacity (Asian Metal). Canada's restarted St Lawrence mine is ramping towards 200 kt/yr. | USGS MCS 2026; Asian Metal (China Kings Resources) |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 60%, Mexico 15%, Mongolia 15%; top-3 90%; HHI about 4,100 (2025, USGS-derived) or 4,884 (2024, WMD) | World Mining Data puts China at 67.7% in 2024. Mongolia supplied 86% of China's H1 2025 imports. Orbia (Koura) in Mexico is the largest non-Chinese producer. | USGS MCS 2026; World Mining Data 2026 |
| Supply elasticity | low to medium: 3-7 years for new flotation plants; Chinese policy dominates short-run supply | Reserves of 330 Mt are about 33 years of output. New plants of 200-300 kt/yr each (Nui Phao, Nokeng, St Lawrence) took several years to permit and build. | USGS MCS 2026; Clarke and Huxtable 2017 via content_v2 |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | Xinjiang mine 300 kt/yr acidspar (started Sept 2025); St Lawrence ramping to 200 kt/yr; projects in Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mongolia, Mozambique, US | A Utah mine and lumps plant was due for completion at end-2025. CapEx figures were not found in the sources reviewed. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Logistics and export flows | acid-grade exports $380 million (2023); US (30.5%), India (27.0%) and Italy (18.3%) lead imports (2024) | Mexico ships to US Gulf HF plants; Mongolia trucks and rails to China; South Africa and Vietnam ship to Europe and India. Acidspar moves as damp filter cake in bulk or bags; HF itself is hazardous and rarely shipped far. | UN Comtrade 2023-24; USGS MCS 2026 |
Material characteristics Industrial mineral
Fluorspar is the mineral fluorite (CaF2), the main source of fluorine. Grade sets the market: acid grade above 97% CaF2 feeds hydrofluoric acid and so refrigerants, fluoropolymers, lithium-battery salts and aluminium fluoride. Lower metallurgical grade is a flux in steel and cement. Silica, sulphur, arsenic and phosphorus impurities decide whether material can make HF.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CaF2 content (acid grade) | at least 97% CaF2 | Required for HF manufacture; sets the price premium over metspar | content_v2 (Clarke and Huxtable 2017) |
| CaF2 content (metallurgical grade) | typically about 60-85% CaF2, often as 10-100 mm lumps (indicative) | Flux for steel and cement; lump size matters for furnace charging | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| Impurities | acid grade typically SiO2 under about 1-1.5%, low S, As and P (indicative) | Silica consumes HF as SiF4 and raises acid use; arsenic contaminates HF | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| HF yield | about 1.95 t CaF2 per t HF; about 3.4 t anhydrite by-product (stoichiometric) | Determines feed cost and waste handling at HF plants | Stoichiometry of CaF2 + H2SO4 = CaSO4 + 2HF |
| Physical | density about 3.18 g/cm3; melts about 1,418 °C (indicative) | Low melting point is why it works as a flux | CRC Handbook (indicative) |
| Unit value | US imports c.i.f.: acid grade $470/t, metallurgical $400/t (2025) | Price benchmarks by grade | USGS MCS 2026 |