Vanadium: Stocks

Australia holds the biggest reserves, but mines little

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 V content	Current output kt V content (mine, 2025e)	Years of supply	Recycling
China	5,800	82	71	n/a
Russia	5,000	21	238	n/a
Brazil	94	5.3	18	n/a
South Africa	520	5	104	n/a
Australia	10,000	0	–	n/a

USGS MCS 2026, Vanadium (world mine production and reserves table). Australia holds the largest reserves but had no output in 2025. World reserves 21,000 kt, about 190 years of 2025 output.. Years of supply = reserves ÷ current output; reserves grow as prices and technology change, so this is not a countdown.

Recycling

Recycling is mainly the reprocessing of spent vanadium catalysts into new catalysts (USGS). The EU end-of-life recycling input rate is low, 1-6% in EU CRM 2023 figures. US secondary production from ash, residues and spent catalysts was about 7,500 t in 2025 (USGS). No figures for China, Japan or India were found.

USGS reserves are 21 million tonnes of vanadium, about 190 years of 2025 output. Australia holds the largest share, ahead of China and Russia. World resources exceed 63 million tonnes. USGS warns that these totals overstate usable supply, since vanadium is mostly a by-product and depends on host output. Recycling is weak where it matters: vanadium alloyed into steel is not recovered as vanadium. The EU end-of-life recycling input rate is only 6%. The main recycling route is reprocessing spent catalysts into new ones. The US holds no government stockpile.

Reserves

World reserves 21,000,000 metric tons, vanadium content (converted from USGS thousand metric tons) Reserve life 191 years at 2025 production Australia 48% China 28% Russia 24% South Africa 2% Brazil 0% 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: 6% of demand met from post-consumer scrap (EU CRM study 2023).

Vanadium recycling is mainly the reprocessing of spent vanadium catalysts into new catalysts, and the quantity recycled from chemical process catalysts is highly uncertain.