Bismuth Rarity

Bismuth is ranked the 69th most abundant element in the earth’s crust, between silver at 65th and gold at 72nd. The abundance in the Earth’s crust is 0.0085 ppm. The global resources of bismuth are estimated at about 680,000 tonnes. The world reserves, which are economically mineable resources, rest around 320,000 tonnes. 240,000 tonnes or 70% of the world bismuth reserves are in China.

You may be surprised to know that even though bismuth has so many uses, it is very rarely mined on its own. Most bismuth is produced as a byproduct of mining other metals such as lead, tungsten, copper, tin, molybdenum, and silver. After the bismuth is extracted from the metal ores, it is refined through several processes. This is done  to remove impurities before it is smelted into bismuth ingots that are ready for use. The top 5 producers of refined bismuth are China, Laos, Korea, Japan and Mexico (USGS 2021).

 There is one mine in Bolivia called the Tasna mine that primarily mined bismuth from ores called bismuthinite and bismite. The Tasna mine has the largest deposits of bismuth found, and it and one other mine from China are the only mines that have produced bismuth from bismuth ores.