# Where does rhenium come from?

Source: Commodity Origins, https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/rhenium/ — data JSON: https://commodityorigins.com/data/commodities/rhenium.json — license CC BY 4.0 (upstream data keeps its license; see Sources below).

Rhenium comes mainly from Chile, which produced 30 tonnes in 2025, 37% of the world's 81 tonnes (USGS MCS). China (25%), Poland (12%) and United States (12%) follow; the top five together supply 95%. Rhenium is never mined for itself. It is recovered from the gases and residues of molybdenum and copper processing, so the USGS production table counts rhenium recovered at processing plants, and a ranking of producers is partly a ranking of where roasters and smelters are.

*A very dense, high-melting metal recovered as a by-product of molybdenum and copper processing and used mainly in nickel superalloys and in catalysts.* Also called: Re, rhenium kg.

## Where does rhenium come from?

| Rank | Country | Production 2025 (tonnes) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chile | 30 | 37% |
| 2 | China | 20 | 25% |
| 3 | Poland | 10 | 12% |
| 4 | United States | 9.8 | 12% |
| 5 | Uzbekistan | 7 | 8.6% |
| 6 | South Korea | 3 | 3.7% |
| 7 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 1.2% |
| 8 | Armenia | 0.2 | 0.2% |
| | Rest of world | 0 | <0.1% |
| | World | 81 | 100% |

Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, MCS 2026.

In 2025 Chile accounted for 30 tonnes of rhenium, 37% of the 81 tonnes world total (USGS MCS). China followed with 20 tonnes (25%), then Poland with 10 tonnes (12%), the United States with 9.8 tonnes (12%) and Uzbekistan with 7 tonnes (8.6%). The top three account for 74%. South Korea, Kazakhstan and Armenia complete the 8 countries with a figure; Russia is also listed, with NA. USGS reports rhenium in kilograms and this site converts to tonnes (metric tons), so USGS's 81,000 kilograms appears as 81 tonnes. USGS describes world output as up 1 percent on 2024.

The figure is not mining in the usual sense. USGS's footnote defines it as the estimated amount of rhenium recovered in association with copper and molybdenum production, so it is rhenium content, not ore. The footnote on the Chile row describes that figure as rhenium recovered from roaster residues from Belgium, Chile, Mexico and Peru, so it is not only Chilean-mined material. The United States figure is a calculation: USGS says it rests on 80 percent recovery of the rhenium estimated to be in molybdenum disulfide concentrates, from porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits in Arizona and Montana. USGS labels the 2025 column as estimated, says it revised the 2024 figures for China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and prints Russia's production as NA. The eight countries add up to the world figure USGS prints, which it marks as rounded.

USGS prints a reserves column for six countries only, and the word "Large" for the world rather than a number. They are Chile (1,300 tonnes), the United States (400 tonnes), Russia (310 tonnes), China (200 tonnes), Kazakhstan (190 tonnes) and Armenia. They sum to 2,495 tonnes on this site's arithmetic, which is not a world reserves figure: the shares quoted here (Chile 52%, the United States 16%) are shares of that six-country sum only. USGS marks reserves as not available for South Korea, Poland and Uzbekistan, which all produce rhenium, and estimates identified US resources at about 7 million kilograms.


## Who exports and imports rhenium?

Rhenium is recovered from molybdenite roasting and from some copper-processing streams, needs special recovery equipment, and is produced only where those operations exist; USGS notes the Chilean figure includes rhenium from roaster residues of several countries.

This page has no trade table, and none of the numbers in it are trade figures calculated by this site. The reason is how customs classifies the metal. Rhenium is one of the minor metals grouped in heading 8112 of the Harmonized System. It has had its own six-digit lines (HS 8112.41 for unwrought metal, waste, scrap and powders; 8112.49 for articles) only since the 2022 revision. Before that it was reported with other minor metals, in HS 8112.92 and 8112.99 (HS 8112.92 also covered hafnium, gallium, germanium, indium, niobium and vanadium). USGS's footnote to its own table shows the change: US imports of rhenium were reported under HTS 8112.92.5000 in 2021, and under 8112.41 and 8112.49 from 2022 to 2025. A customs series for rhenium therefore changes line at the revision, and this site has not built one. See [HS codes](/learn/hs-codes/) for why such lines matter.

What can be said comes from USGS, and is about the United States. USGS reports net import reliance of 75 percent of apparent consumption in 2025, and lists Canada, Chile, Germany, Kazakhstan and Poland as the countries that supplied most of the imported rhenium. For 2021 to 2024 it gives the sources of total imports as Chile 31 percent, Canada 27 percent, Germany 16 percent, Poland 14 percent and other 12 percent. Chile (38 percent) and Canada (28 percent) were the largest sources of metal, and Canada (25 percent) and Kazakhstan (24 percent) of ammonium perrhenate. Canada and Germany are not in the production table; USGS names Germany among the leading secondary producers and Canada among the others, so the import sources do not line up with the production table.

As of 31 December 2025, USGS lists US normal trade relations tariffs of 3.1 percent on ammonium perrhenate, 3 percent on unwrought rhenium powders and 4 percent on other rhenium, with unwrought rhenium, waste and scrap free. These are base rates and do not include any additional US duties.


## What does rhenium cost?

### How it is priced

This page shows no rhenium price series. This site has no free public series for it and uses no exchange benchmark. The prices USGS publishes come from Argus Media group, Argus Non-Ferrous Markets, and are annual averages of value per kilogram, gross weight, for two products: rhenium metal in pellets of 99.9 percent purity, and catalytic-grade ammonium perrhenate, which is 69.4 percent rhenium. Each is a different product, so one quote does not describe the other.

For 2025 USGS estimates that catalytic-grade ammonium perrhenate averaged $2,300 per kilogram, 78 percent more than the 2024 average, and that rhenium metal pellets averaged $2,600 per kilogram, a 90 percent increase on 2024. Those are USGS annual averages for 2025, not a current price. USGS adds that industry sources say recyclers would need prices to stay consistently above $3,000 per kilogram to offset high processing costs. This page makes no forecast of the price. Naming a company on this page is not investment advice.


## What moves the price of rhenium?

### Molybdenum and copper processing

Supply depends on plants that already handle molybdenum and copper, and USGS says special facilities are needed to capture the rhenium. USGS says rhenium comes from roasting molybdenum concentrates from porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits, and that it also occurs with copper minerals in sedimentary deposits in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia and Uzbekistan, where the rhenium-bearing residues are recovered at copper smelters. A 2015 USGS fact sheet says special facilities are needed to take rhenium out of molybdenite concentrate.

### Jet-engine superalloys and refining catalysts

In its description of US use, USGS estimates that superalloys for high-temperature turbine engine components took about 80 percent of rhenium end use, and petroleum-reforming catalysts about 15 percent. Demand is tied to the sectors that use superalloys and reforming catalysts. USGS says substitutes for platinum-rhenium catalysts are continually being evaluated and that one application using iridium and tin has achieved commercial success. It also reports FDA approval of several molybdenum-rhenium medical devices and calls medical implants a growing end use, with no size given.

### Recycling

USGS says industry sources estimated global secondary production at between 20,000 and 25,000 kilograms in 2025, excluding rhenium recovered from spent catalysts, which stays in a closed loop of reuse. For comparison, the production figure on this page is 81 tonnes. USGS reports that industry sources said recyclers would need prices to stay consistently above $3,000 per kilogram to offset high processing costs, and that some companies increased investment in recovery technology.

### Import reliance in the United States

USGS says the United States continued to rely on imports for much of its supply, with net import reliance of 75 percent of apparent consumption in 2025, up from 68 percent in 2024. It reports no government stockpile, and says estimated apparent consumption in 2025 rose 34 percent on 2024.

### Critical-mineral policy

USGS reports that the final 2025 US list of critical minerals, published in the Federal Register on 7 November 2025, added rhenium, copper, lead, potash, silicon and silver (and, after public comment, boron, metallurgical coal, phosphate rock and uranium) to the 2022 list. The Interior Department release describes rhenium as used in high-performance jet engines and gas turbines. A listing is a government assessment, and this page does not claim a shortage.

## How is rhenium produced?

Rhenium has almost no minerals of its own. The 2015 USGS fact sheet says it often substitutes for molybdenum in molybdenite, which commonly contains between 100 and 3,000 parts per million of rhenium, and that most of that molybdenite comes from porphyry copper deposits.

The recovery step happens during roasting. According to the fact sheet, rhenium is oxidized in the roasting furnace and carried up the flue stack with sulfur gases. Scrubbing the dust and gases yields solutions that contain dissolved rhenium, which is precipitated as ammonium perrhenate, a white powder the fact sheet calls the principal form in which rhenium is marketed. That is why plants matter more than mines: no rhenium comes out unless the concentrate is roasted in a plant equipped to capture it.

From ammonium perrhenate, processors make the metal. As of October 2026, Molymet, a Chilean processor of molybdenum and rhenium, says it makes rhenium metal powder by reducing ammonium perrhenate with hydrogen, and briquettes by sintering the powder. As of October 2026, KGHM in Poland says rhenium is a by-product of its copper production, and sells metal pellets of at least 99.9 percent rhenium and catalytic-grade ammonium perrhenate of at least 69.4 percent rhenium. The tonnage on this page is rhenium content, not the weight of ammonium perrhenate, which USGS puts at 69.42 percent rhenium. Los Alamos National Laboratory gives rhenium a density of 21.02 grams per cubic centimetre and the third-highest melting point of any element, about 3,190 degrees Celsius.


## What is rhenium used for?

USGS gives an end-use split in its description of US use, not as a world table: about 80 percent superalloys and about 15 percent petroleum-reforming catalysts. For the rest it lists rhenium alloys in crucibles, electrical contacts, electromagnets, electron tubes and targets, heating elements, thermocouples, vacuum tubes and other applications, without shares. A 2015 USGS fact sheet gave a world split of over 80 percent superalloys and about 10 percent catalysts, so the picture is the same, though that source is older.

In superalloys, USGS says rhenium improves the strength of some nickel-base alloys above 1,000 degrees Celsius. In refining, bimetallic platinum-rhenium catalysts are used in petroleum reforming to produce high-octane hydrocarbons for lead-free gasoline. For some smaller uses USGS names substitutes: tungsten and platinum-ruthenium for coatings on electrical contacts, rhodium and rhodium-iridium for high-temperature thermocouples. The chapter lists no substitute for the superalloy use.


## Supply chain and chokepoints

The chain starts with copper and molybdenum, not rhenium. Molybdenite concentrate is roasted, the roaster gases are scrubbed, and rhenium comes out as ammonium perrhenate, then as metal, alloys or catalyst precursors, then goes to superalloy melters, catalyst makers and component fabricators. Scrap from used blades and spent catalysts feeds back in.

The production table is concentrated: 74% comes from Chile, China and Poland. The countries sit in different parts of the chain. USGS describes the US output as coming from molybdenum roasters in Arizona and Montana, while the 2015 fact sheet says Poland's rhenium comes from sediment-hosted copper deposits. In the United States, USGS's apparent consumption for 2025, which counts primary production plus imports minus exports, is well above US primary production, and USGS reports that imports supply much of it.

The United States added rhenium to its critical minerals list in 2025. See the [critical minerals](/critical-minerals/) hub for how such lists work and the [glossary entry](/glossary/critical-mineral/) for the term. Rhenium is tied to [molybdenum](/commodities/molybdenum/) and [copper](/commodities/copper/) on the supply side and to [nickel](/commodities/nickel/) on the demand side, since nickel-base superalloys take most of it.


## Key companies

- Molymet: Chilean processor of molybdenum and rhenium that lists rhenium powder, briquettes, ammonium perrhenate, perrhenic acid and molybdenum-rhenium alloy powder as products (as of October 2026), Chile, listed (MOLYMET)
- KGHM Polska Miedź: copper and silver producer that says it is the only European producer of rhenium from its own resources, as a by-product of copper (as of October 2026); it also sells ammonium perrhenate, Poland, listed

## Timeline

- 1871: Mendeleev leaves a gap below manganese. The 2015 USGS fact sheet says the existence of rhenium was predicted in 1871, when the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev noted two vacant places below manganese on the periodic table. (https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2014/3101/pdf/fs2014-3101.pdf)
- 1925: German chemists identify rhenium. USGS says Walter Noddack, Ida Tacke and Otto Berg detected rhenium in platinum ore in Germany in 1925. Los Alamos National Laboratory notes that a Japanese claim of 1908 was later explained as element 75, and says the team later had to process 660 kilograms of molybdenite to obtain 1 gram of rhenium (in 1928). (https://www.lanl.gov/science-engineering/periodic-table/element/rhenium)
- 1950: Rhenium production resumes. The USGS rhenium information page says that after the 1925 discovery the process was so complicated and costly that production was discontinued until early 1950. (https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/rhenium-statistics-and-information)
- 2007-09: A rhenium recovery plant in Poland is reported coming on stream. A trade commentary dated 27 September 2007 reported that the KGHM Ecoren hydrometallurgical plant for rhenium recovery in Poland was coming on stream. It is a trade commentary, not a company or government notice. (https://www.lipmann.co.uk/post/new-rhenium-supply-from-poland-comes-on-stream-but-will-it-close-world-deficit)
- 2025-04: Almalyk says it is launching rhenium production. An article dated 24 April 2025 on the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex website says rhenium metal of 99.9 percent purity was obtained in 2021 from ammonium perrhenate produced at a copper smelter, that industrial production was planned to start in 2025, and that the complex plans to produce up to 3 tons a year. (https://agmk.uz/en/news/kombinatda-reniy-metalli-ishlab-chiqarilmoqda)
- 2025: USGS estimates large price increases for rhenium. USGS estimates that the 2025 average price of catalytic-grade ammonium perrhenate was 78 percent above the 2024 average and the average price of rhenium metal pellets 90 percent above it, citing Argus Media group. (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-rhenium.pdf)
- 2025-11: Rhenium is added to the US critical minerals list. The Interior Department and USGS announced the final 2025 list of 60 minerals on 6 November 2025 and it was published in the Federal Register the next day. USGS says rhenium was among the minerals added to the 2022 list and describes it as used in high-performance jet engines and gas turbines. (https://www.usgs.gov/news/science-snippet/interior-department-releases-final-2025-list-critical-minerals)

## Frequently asked questions

### which country produces the most rhenium

Chile accounted for 30 tonnes of rhenium in 2025, 37% of the 81 tonnes world total (USGS MCS). China was second with 25% and Poland third with 12%. These are estimates of rhenium recovered during copper and molybdenum processing, and USGS says the Chile figure is recovered from roaster residues from Belgium, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

### what is rhenium used for

In the US section of its chapter, USGS estimates that about 80 percent of end uses were superalloys for high-temperature turbine engine components and about 15 percent in petroleum-reforming catalysts used to make lead-free gasoline. Other uses USGS lists include electrical contacts, thermocouples, heating elements, electron tubes and targets. It also says medical implants are a growing end use.

### is rhenium mined

Not for itself. USGS reports it as a by-product recovered from roasting molybdenum concentrates from porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits, and from sediment-hosted copper deposits in countries such as Poland and Kazakhstan. The USGS production figure is rhenium recovered in association with copper and molybdenum production, not ore mined for its rhenium.

### how much rhenium is left

USGS prints reserves for six countries only and the word "Large" for the world, not a number. The six named countries add up to 2,495 tonnes on this site's own sum, led by Chile with 1,300 tonnes (52% of that sum), then the United States (400 tonnes) and Russia (310 tonnes). That sum is not a world reserves figure, and USGS gives no figure for South Korea, Poland or Uzbekistan. USGS also estimates identified US resources at about 7 million kilograms.

### why is there no rhenium price or trade table on this page

This site has no free public price series for rhenium, and it has not built a trade table because customs lines for rhenium changed at the 2022 revision of the Harmonized System. USGS publishes prices from Argus Media group, and for 2025 estimates the average at $2,600 per kilogram for rhenium metal pellets and $2,300 per kilogram for catalytic-grade ammonium perrhenate. Those are USGS annual averages, not a current price.

### how much rhenium is recycled

USGS says industry sources estimated global secondary production at between 20,000 and 25,000 kilograms in 2025, excluding rhenium recovered from spent catalysts, which is reused in a closed loop. It names the United States and Germany as the leading producers of secondary rhenium, with additional production in Canada, Estonia, France, Japan, Poland and Russia. It also says industry sources estimate recyclers would need prices consistently above $3,000 per kilogram to cover processing costs.

## Sources

- USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, MCS 2026, fetched 8 October 2026. License: Public domain (US Government work). https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/mineral-commodity-summaries

Text last reviewed 2026-10-09. The text is written with AI assistance and checked against the cited data; figures are computed by scripts from the sources (https://commodityorigins.com/about/#how-ai-is-used). Cite as: Commodity Origins, "Where does rhenium come from?", https://commodityorigins.com/commodities/rhenium/.