What moves zircon demand

Zircon goes into tiles, furnace linings, casting moulds and zirconium chemicals, and this piece follows each use to the part of the economy it answers to and to the sources that publish the split.

Reviewed by Peter Uppal

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The short version

USGS's Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 names ceramics as the leading end use for zircon in the United States in 2025, with foundry sand, refractories and zirconium chemicals as its other primary uses. On this publication's reading, those uses depend on different parts of the economy, and Iluka's reporting on 2025 linked ceramics demand to China's property sector and US foundry demand to industrial activity. The only percentage split of zircon demand used here comes from a May 2025 Iluka presentation, sourced to Iluka and TZMI, which states no year for it.

An order of uses, not a set of shares

USGS's current edition reports that in the United States in 2025 the leading end use for zircon was ceramics(opens in a new tab), and that other primary uses of zircon included foundry sand, refractories, and zirconium chemicals(opens in a new tab). The list changes between editions. The 2025 edition, now superseded, named, for the United States in 2024, ceramics, foundry sand, opacifiers and refractories as the leading end uses, with abrasives, chemicals, metal alloys and welding rod coatings as other end uses(opens in a new tab).

For the world, the USGS ranking comes from an older document. Its 2020 Minerals Yearbook chapter, released in February 2025 with 2020 data, ranked zircon's leading end uses globally, in descending order of quantity, as ceramics, refractories and foundry, then zirconium-based chemicals and "fused zirconium", and other applications(opens in a new tab), "fused zirconium" being USGS's own wording in that sentence. That is an order of quantity with no percentages attached.

Ceramics: an optical job tied to building

The Zircon Industry Association describes zircon as a whiteness and opacity enhancer in traditional ceramics(opens in a new tab). Its explanation is optical: fine zircon grains scatter visible light, making ceramics appear white and opaque(opens in a new tab). The association says that in ceramic tile manufacturing, zircon is mostly used in the form of flour(opens in a new tab), that is, finely milled, and that in glazes it enhances resistance to abrasion and chemical attack(opens in a new tab).

Tiles go into buildings, and one producer says so. Iluka Resources, which sells zircon sand and zircon-in-concentrate, calls construction a key end-use market for mineral sands products(opens in a new tab) in its 2025 annual report, and its May 2025 investor presentation says that for mineral sands construction and development are key drivers of demand(opens in a new tab). In its account of 2025, demand from ceramics was impacted by ongoing weakness in the Chinese property sector(opens in a new tab), while India and Europe saw more resilient demand(opens in a new tab).

Iluka's quarterly review to 31 December 2025 adds the regional detail. In China, Iluka reported, ceramics production slowed in December 2025 as many factories suspended operations through January(opens in a new tab). In Europe, ceramic production remained resilient through the December 2025 quarter, driven by tile exports and renovation activity(opens in a new tab), Iluka said. In India, Iluka said, the domestic tile market remained stable, but exports were constrained by elevated shipping costs and trade tariffs(opens in a new tab).

Iluka, May 2025, on mineral sands: "construction and development are key drivers of demand"

Refractories and foundry: furnaces and moulds

The second group of uses sits in heat. The association lists zircon refractory products including firebricks or refractory linings for glass and metal furnaces(opens in a new tab), and among the properties it gives for zircon and zirconia in that service are low solubility in molten silica and molten metal(opens in a new tab) and chemical inertness(opens in a new tab).

The foundry use is related. The association says zircon is used in the foundry industry in sand and investment casting(opens in a new tab), and USGS gives one reason: zircon used for facings on foundry molds increases resistance to metal penetration(opens in a new tab).

For foundry, Iluka's December 2025 quarterly reported that in the US, demand from industrial activity slowed, particularly in the foundry sector(opens in a new tab).

Both uses also have partial exits. USGS reports that chromite and olivine can substitute for zircon for some foundry applications(opens in a new tab), and that dolomite and spinel refractories can also substitute for zircon in certain high-temperature applications(opens in a new tab). It adds that zircon foundry mold cores and spent or rejected zirconia refractories are often recycled but could not be quantified(opens in a new tab). USGS puts a figure on neither substitution nor recycling.

Chemicals, zirconia and metal

The last group of uses turns zircon into something else. The association describes zircon as a raw material in the production of fused and chemically derived zirconia(opens in a new tab), and says that "a growing portion of the zircon mined worldwide"(opens in a new tab) is used to extract zirconium and hafnium metals, a share the association does not quantify or date.

Who publishes the split

The percentage split used here comes from a producer. An Iluka investor presentation of 7 May 2025, with the source line "Iluka and TZMI" (TZMI being a consultancy) and no year or period stated, put industry demand for zircon at ceramics 46%, refractory and foundry 29%, fused zirconia and chemicals 23% and other 2%(opens in a new tab). On the same slide (Iluka and TZMI, no year stated), Iluka's own sales were ceramics 50%, fused zirconia and chemicals 35%, refractory and foundry 11% and other 4%(opens in a new tab).

The slide labels the two charts "Industry demand" and "Iluka sales", so a share quoted without saying which it is cannot be interpreted safely. USGS supplies an order of uses, and the shares used here come from a company and the consultancy it cites. On this publication's reading, the public picture of zircon demand is assembled largely from producers, their industry association and the consultancies they draw on.