EVERYDAY MATERIALSAtlas
2025 estimated output / USGS 2026

Lithium

Lithium content recovered from mineral and brine operations. Values are tonnes of contained lithium, not tonnes of ore, lithium carbonate equivalent or battery material. The published total excludes U.S. production.

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Mine production, lithium content

metric tonnes of lithium / 2025
Lithium 2025 production by countryTab through country markers to hear quantities. Select a marker to reach its table row. Approximate country centres, not production sites. Circle area is proportional to output. All figures are also in the table below.Australia: 92,000 metric tonnes of lithiumChina: 62,000 metric tonnes of lithiumChile: 56,000 metric tonnes of lithiumZimbabwe: 28,000 metric tonnes of lithiumArgentina: 23,000 metric tonnes of lithiumBrazil: 12,000 metric tonnes of lithiumMali: 9,400 metric tonnes of lithiumCanada: 5,600 metric tonnes of lithiumPortugal: 380 metric tonnes of lithium
Select or focus a country marker to read its reported output. The full table is below.

Approximate country centres, not mine or factory sites. Circle areas scale with output; very small markers have a minimum visible size. Natural Earth land outline, public domain. Country groupings without coordinates appear only in the table.

Lithium · Mine production, lithium content · 2025 estimates
Country / reporting groupmetric tonnes of lithium
Australia92,000
China62,000
Chile56,000
Zimbabwe28,000
Argentina23,000
Brazil12,000
Mali9,400
Canada5,600
Portugal380
United StatesWithheld
Other countries0
World total (rounded)290,000

Read the pattern.

Australia has the largest reported output, followed by China and Chile. These countries use different combinations of mineral and brine resources. The common lithium-content unit makes the quantities comparable without treating a tonne of concentrate as a tonne of metal. U.S. output is withheld, so it is absent from the reported total and must never be shown as zero.

From country output to a real object

Mineral concentrates and brines follow different processing routes to lithium chemicals. Further purification and cathode manufacture may occur elsewhere. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries typically contain lithium in compounds, rather than a block of lithium metal. A production map therefore cannot identify the origin, chemistry or recycling prospects of an individual battery.

Lithium

Follow the evidence

Original explanations informed by the sources below. Technical and industry sources support material behaviour; industry environmental marketing is not treated as a universal comparison. Read our editorial method.