Firstly, let’s explore the nation that holds the crown as the largest vanadium producer – South Africa. This country, also famous for its gold and diamond deposits, managed to produce about 31,000 metric tons of vanadium in 2024. Ranked first, South Africa is home to one of the world’s largest high-grade primary vanadium mining operations, Bushveld Minerals Limited, which significantly contributes to the nation’s output. Despite vanadium being a by-product of iron-ore mining for many other countries, most of Southern Africa’s production is sourced from primary vanadium operations. The robustness of these operations, notwithstanding fluctuations in global vanadium prices, underlines the country’s vanadium industry’s resilience.
China trails South Africa closely as the second largest vanadium producer. In 2024, China recorded vanadium production of about 29,000 metric tons. Although the country’s vanadium deposits are less concentrated than South Africa’s, it compensates for this with its large-scale steel industry, which generates considerable amounts of vanadium as a by-product. Notably, China has been focusing on increasing its vanadium production, driven by the increasing demand for vanadium redox batteries in the renewable energy sector due to its superior ability to store energy than conventional batteries.
Number three on the list is Russia, with a vanadium production level of approximately 16,000 metric tons in 2024. Vanadium production in this vast nation is mostly concentrated in the Ural Mountains and Siberia. The country’s main producer is Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium, which owns and operates the Kachkanar iron ore mine, where vanadium is extracted as a by-product. The Russian government has also identified vanadium as a strategically essential mineral, signaling the likelihood of increased production in future years to hedge against external supply interruptions.
Finally, we turn our attention to Brazil, the fourth-largest vanadium-producing country. In 2024, Brazil contributed about 8,200 metric tons of vanadium to global production. Most of the Brazilian production is concentrated in the state of Minas Gerais, where Largo Resources operates the Maracas Menchen Mine – one of the highest-grade vanadium reserves in the world. The Brazilian vanadium sector is heavily integrated, with vanadium being extracted as a by-product of iron ore mining as well as used in the same facilities to strengthen the produced steel.
All in all, these four nations – South Africa, China
