Hafnium
A by-product of nuclear-grade zirconium that strengthens jet-engine superalloys and absorbs neutrons in reactor control rods.
Tech & minor metals · No. 34
- EU critical 2023
- US critical 2025
- India critical 2023
Its price jumped nearly eightfold in two years, and it hides inside zircon sand, never forming an ore of its own.
Chart: Illustration: Hafnium
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Hafnium is never mined for itself. It rides inside zircon from heavy-mineral sands, about 1.2 Mt of concentrate in 2025, mostly from Australia and South Africa.
Three things to know
- Hafnium's neutron capture cross-section is about 104 barns, far above its twin zirconium, which is why it ends up in reactor control rods.
- Just 1-2% hafnium strengthens the grain boundaries of nickel superalloys, its leading US use, found in jet engines.
- No world output or reserve figure exists; supply simply follows nuclear zirconium, drawn from about 1.2 Mt of zircon concentrate in 2025.
The journey
- 1 Mineral sandsZircon dug alongside titanium minerals
- 2 Zircon concentrateAbout 1.2 Mt produced in 2025
- 3 Chemical crackingBroken into zirconium-hafnium intermediates
- 4 SeparationSplitting chemical near-twins in few plants
- 5 Metal and oxideHafnium sponge, metal and oxide
- 6 End usesSuperalloys, control rods, chip precursors