Lead: Stocks

The biggest lead mine is the batteries in use

What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.

Top five countries: reserves, output and years of supply

Country	Reserves kt Pb content	Current output kt Pb content (mine, 2025e)	Years of supply	Recycling
China	22,000	1,900	12	n/a
Australia	34,000	480	71	n/a
Peru	5,000	290	17	n/a
United States	4,600	280	16	70
Russia	8,900	260	34	n/a

USGS MCS 2026, Lead (world mine production and reserves table). Years of supply = reserves ÷ current output; reserves grow as prices and technology change, so this is not a countdown.

Recycling

US figure is secondary lead output as a share of apparent consumption, 2025 (USGS). The EU end-of-life recycling input rate is 83%, among the highest of any metal (EU CRM 2023). Globally, refined output of about 13.3 Mt against 4.5 Mt of mine output in 2025 implies that roughly two-thirds of refined lead is recycled (derived from ILZSG and USGS). India's reserves are 1.9 Mt against 220 kt output, about 9 years.

USGS reserves are 95 million tonnes, about 21 years of 2025 mine output, against identified resources above 2 billion tonnes. The larger stock is above ground, in batteries in use. The EU end-of-life recycling input rate is 83%, among the highest of any metal. In 2025 US secondary output of about 1 million tonnes equalled 70% of domestic consumption, nearly all from old batteries. LME warehouses held 217,000 tonnes of lead at the end of October 2025, 10% less than at the end of 2024.

Reserves

World reserves 95,000 thousand metric tons, lead content Reserve life 21 years at 2025 production Australia 36% China 23% Russia 9% Mexico 6% Peru 5% Largest reserve holders, share of world reserves (USGS MCS 2026). Reserves are what is economic to extract today, not what exists.

Recycling

End-of-life recycling input rate in the EU: 83% of demand met from post-consumer scrap (EU CRM study 2023).

In 2025 the US produced an estimated 1 million tons of secondary lead, equivalent to 70% of apparent consumption, nearly all from old scrap, mostly lead-acid batteries.