In
1995, 53 countries produced zinc and 6 of them did the 2/3 of the
total production. According to the data provided by ILZSG, Canada is
the biggest and most systematic zinc producer in the world. Canada
has increased its production by 9% in 1995 to reach a total of
1.1x106 tons. Second is China with 930x103
tons. Other countries are Australia with 378x103 tons,
Peru with 688x103 tons, USA with 640x103 tons,
and Mexico with 378x103 tons. Generally, there has been
an increase in the zinc production in the world, except in
Australia. Total zinc production in the world in 1998 was 7.4x106
tons.
In
1995 7 countries have provided the 53% of the refined zinc
production. Among these, China has increased its production of 1992
by 70% to reach a total of 1.1x106 tons to become the top
producer. Second was Canada with an increase of 4.2% from 1994 to a
total of 720x103 tons. Japan produced 633x103
tons, Spain and USA produced 360x103 tons each, Australia
332x103 tons, and Germany 32x103 tons. In 1998
production of refined zinc increased by 8.6% and reached 8x106
tons.
According to the data, the biggest consumer of refined zinc was USA
with 1.2x106 tons. Consumption of USA has increased by 4%
from 1994. Japan was second in consumption with 752x103
tons, and an increase of 4.3% from 1994. third was China with 670x103
tons.
Almost all of the zinc facilities are under the ground. Zinc veins
are not close to the surface and cannot be mined with open mining.
The
main input to the zinc production in the world is zinc ore. But we
should not underestimate the scrap zinc input.
Zinc
ore production in the continents in 1995
