Strontium: Extraction
The mineral that is often just ground and used
What this tab covers How it is mined, drilled or grown, and processed into a tradeable form: the main methods compared, their unit economics, by-products, and the companies that do this work globally and in India.Strontium comes almost entirely from celestite, strontium sulphate, found in sedimentary deposits. It is mined in open pits, mainly in Iran, Spain, China and Mexico. For drilling fluids, celestite is simply ground and used without chemical processing. For chemicals, it is converted to strontium carbonate, the base for other compounds. Strontium carbonate is sintered with iron oxide to make ferrite magnets. Strontium is a host mineral: only about 5% of supply is a by-product. The US has deposits but has mined none since 1959.
Strontium comes from celestite, a common sulphate mineral, and is mined for itself rather than as a by-product. Iran, Spain and China are the main miners. There are two routes to market. Drillers buy ground celestite as a heavy mud additive, with no chemical processing. Everyone else buys strontium carbonate made by the black-ash process, in which celestite is roasted with coal, leached and precipitated. China, Mexico, Germany and Iran host most carbonate capacity. In 2025 carbonate supply was disrupted by Chinese plant upgrades, an explosion at Iran's main port and a fire at a Mexican plant.
Methods compared
| Method | Share of supply | Typical scale | Recovery / efficiency | By-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open-pit celestite mining and grinding | all mine supply (450,000 t in 2025) | national output from 700 t (Argentina) to 250,000 t (Iran) a year (USGS 2025e) | not published | none of note | not published; US imports had an average unit value of $160/t at the port of export in 2025 (USGS) |
| Black-ash process to strontium carbonate | most strontium carbonate (process share not published) | Chinese plants up to 60,000 t/yr carbonate (Hebei Xinji Chemical); Kandelium's Mexican plant about 40,000 t/yr | not published | sulphur compounds | not published; China carbonate price RMB 8,000/t (Sep 2024) to RMB 16,000/t (Jun 2025) (Guidechem) |
| Conversion to nitrate, oxalate, peroxide and metal | small share of carbonate | not published | not published | none of note | not published |
How each method works
Open-pit celestite mining and grindingCelestite beds are mined with excavators and trucks, then crushed, hand or optically sorted and ground. Drilling-grade product is sold as a powder. Higher grades go to chemical plants.
Simple and cheap; market for drilling grade swings with rig activity and barite prices.
USGS MCS 2026, Strontium Black-ash process to strontium carbonateCelestite is mixed with coal or coke and roasted at high temperature to reduce strontium sulphate to soluble strontium sulphide. The black ash is leached with hot water, and strontium carbonate is precipitated with carbon dioxide or soda ash, then filtered and dried. Hydrogen sulphide must be handled safely.
Established and flexible, but energy-intensive and hazardous; China ordered upgrades of intermittent carbonisation plants in 2024.
Guidechem (2025); USGS MCS 2026 Conversion to nitrate, oxalate, peroxide and metalStrontium carbonate is dissolved in nitric acid to make nitrate for pyrotechnics, or converted to other salts and to metal for master alloys. Purity and particle size are tuned for defence and fireworks specifications.
Higher value; the US is funding domestic plants for these defence chemicals.
USGS MCS 2026 Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs vary widely by deposit, region and year.By-product supply
Not a by-product: companionality is about 5% (Nassar et al. 2015). Strontium is mined as celestite for its own sake, and world resources may exceed 1 billion t (USGS). The constraint is chemical conversion capacity and logistics, not geology, as 2025 showed when carbonate supply tightened while celestite output rose.
Share produced as a by-product
About 5% of primary supply comes as a by-product (Nassar, Graedel & Harper 2015, approximate).Who does it: global
| Company | Country | Activity | Volume | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kandelium (ex-Solvay barium and strontium business) Recovery expected in 6-12 months (Guidechem). Group-wide output not published. | Germany/Spain/Mexico | strontium and barium carbonate; Solvay sold the business to Latour Capital (announced Nov 2020) | 40,000 t/yr strontium carbonate capacity at the Mexican plant damaged by fire in 2025 | 2025 | Solvay press release (Nov 2020); Preqin profile; Guidechem (2025) |
| Hebei Xinji Chemical Filed for bankruptcy reorganisation on 21 Oct 2024; production halted or reduced for upgrades in early 2025. | China | strontium carbonate | 60,000 t/yr capacity (28.84% of China's capacity) | 2024 | Guidechem (2025) |
| Chongqing Qinglong Fine Strontium Salt Chemical Volume not published. | China | strontium carbonate and salts | not published | 2025 | Guidechem (2025) |
| Shenzhou Jiaxin Chemical Volume not published. | China | strontium carbonate | not published | 2025 | Guidechem (2025) |
| Iranian celestite miners Company names and individual volumes not published; figure is the national total. | Iran | celestite mining and export | 250,000 t celestite (Iran national output) | 2025e | USGS MCS 2026 |
Who does it: India
India has no reported celestite production (USGS 2026) and relies on imports of strontium carbonate and nitrate for ferrites, fireworks (notably the Sivakasi industry) and glass. Strontium is on India's 2023 list of critical minerals. No Indian producer volumes were found.