Vermiculite: Stocks

Patchy reserve data, led by the United States

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 vermiculite	Current output kt vermiculite concentrate (mine, 2025e)	Years of supply	Recycling
South Africa	14,000	160	88	n/a
United States	25,000	100	250	n/a
Brazil	6,600	50	132	n/a
China	2,900	40	73	n/a
Russia	–	40	–	n/a

USGS MCS 2026, Vermiculite (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

USGS rates vermiculite recycling as insignificant, and no country figures exist. Turkey reports 11 Mt of reserves against 10,000 t of output, and India 1.6 Mt against 2,000 t (USGS 2026). Zimbabwe (30,000 t) and Uganda (20,000 t) produce but have no published reserves.

Reserve data are patchy. Reported reserves are 25 million t in the United States, 14 million t in South Africa, 11 million t in Turkey and 6.6 million t in Brazil. No world total is given, so a reserve life cannot be computed. The USGS warns that many figures may include host rock and overburden. US occurrences in five other states hold 2 to 3 million t of resources. Recycling is insignificant, and there is no stockpile.

Insignificant.