Where Is Sulfur Mined? Top Countries, Methods and Uses

Sulfur is mined in two very different ways today. Almost all of the world’s roughly 84 million tonnes a year is not dug from a mine at all: it is recovered from sour natural gas, crude oil refining and metal smelting, according to the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. True sulfur mining, where native (elemental) sulfur is taken from rock, survives only in a few places, such as Frasch wells in Poland and Mexico and hand mining in the crater of Indonesia’s Ijen volcano. About 90% of the sulfur consumed in the United States ends up as sulfuric acid, mostly for phosphate fertilizer and metal leaching.

This guide answers where sulfur is mined and recovered country by country, how each method works, what sulfur ore actually is, what the element is mined for, and what recent prices mean for mining projects that buy acid. It uses the USGS 2026 figures throughout, so every tonnage below is in sulfur content unless stated.

Where is sulfur mined? The main producing countries

USGS estimates world sulfur production in all forms at 84.0 million tonnes in 2025, up from 83.9 million tonnes in 2024. China is the largest producer at about 19 million tonnes, followed by the United States (8.1 million), Russia (7.5 million), Saudi Arabia (7.2 million), the United Arab Emirates (6.3 million), Canada (5.0 million) and Kazakhstan (4.8 million). Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Chile, Kuwait, Poland, Australia and Turkmenistan each produce between about 0.9 and 3.1 million tonnes.

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Largest sulfur producers

Production in all forms, 2025 estimate, million tonnes of sulfur content; selected producers

That list tracks oil and gas, not geology. Most of these countries refine large volumes of crude or process sour gas, which contains hydrogen sulfide. USGS notes that because crude oil and sulfide ores can be processed far from where they were produced, sulfur output may not appear in the country that holds the reserves: sulfur from Saudi crude, for example, can be recovered at refineries in the United States.

China’s figure is broader than the others. USGS says it includes byproduct sulfur from gas and petroleum, the sulfur content of acid made at metal smelters, and acid made by roasting pyrite, a sulfide mineral that China still burns in volume.

Where sulfur is produced in the United States

In 2025, recovered elemental sulfur and byproduct sulfuric acid came from 86 operations in 26 States. Louisiana and Texas supplied about 54% of domestic production. Elemental sulfur was recovered, in descending order of tonnage, at petroleum refineries, natural gas processing plants and coking plants, by 31 companies at 81 plants in 25 States. Byproduct acid, about 6% of the total, came from five nonferrous metal smelters in four States (USGS, 2026). No native sulfur has been mined in the US since the last Frasch mine closed in 2000.

Where sulfur is produced in Canada

Canada produced about 5.0 million tonnes in 2025, mostly from sour gas and oil sands upgrading in Alberta. Bright yellow blocks of stored sulfur at Alberta gas plants are a familiar sight; the photo at the top of the Claus process article shows Alberta stockpiles awaiting shipment. Canada is also the main source of US imports, supplying 53% of elemental sulfur imports in 2021 to 2024, per USGS.

How is sulfur mined and recovered?

There are four routes, and only two of them involve a mine. The rest recover sulfur that would otherwise be released as hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide.

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US recovered elemental sulfur

Thousand tonnes; 2025 is an estimate

1. Recovery from oil and gas (the Claus process)

Refineries strip sulfur from fuels by hydrotreating, which turns it into hydrogen sulfide gas. Gas plants remove the same gas from sour natural gas. The Claus process then burns part of the hydrogen sulfide to sulfur dioxide and reacts the two gases over a catalyst to give liquid elemental sulfur and water. Gas streams with more than 25% hydrogen sulfide can go through a straight-through Claus plant; leaner streams need modified layouts (Claus process overview). This is now the main source of the world’s elemental sulfur. Sulfur from this route is sold molten in heated tank cars and ships, or formed into pellets and blocks.

2. Byproduct acid from metal smelters

Copper, zinc, lead and nickel ores are mostly sulfides. When a smelter roasts or smelts them, the sulfur leaves as sulfur dioxide, which is captured and converted into sulfuric acid rather than released. In the US this route supplied about 6% of sulfur output in 2025 (USGS). In copper-producing regions with large smelters, it is often a major local source of acid.

3. Frasch mining of native sulfur

The Frasch process was devised by Herman Frasch in 1894 to reach sulfur in the caprock of salt domes in Louisiana. Superheated water is pumped down a well to melt the sulfur underground, and compressed air lifts the molten sulfur, about 99.5% pure, to the surface. The Gulf Coast dominated world supply in the early and mid 20th century, but cheaper byproduct sulfur pushed Frasch mines out of business from the 1970s. The last US Frasch mine closed in 2000, and a Frasch mine in Iraq closed in 2003. The method is still used on deposits in Mexico, Ukraine and Poland (Frasch process history). Poland is the main European country where the method is still in use.

4. Open-pit and hand mining of volcanic sulfur

Native sulfur also forms where volcanic gas cools at the surface. Sicily was the world’s main source for more than a century, with mines that relied on child labour (the carusi) until reforms (history of Sicilian sulfur mining). Today the best-known example is Kawah Ijen in East Java, Indonesia. There, ceramic pipes condense volcanic gas into molten sulfur that hardens into yellow slabs. Around 200 miners break it up and carry loads of 75 to 90 kg up 300 metres to the crater rim, removing about 14 tonnes a day (Ijen volcano). The work is small in tonnage terms and dangerous, with frequent respiratory complaints.

What is sulfur ore? Native sulfur and sulfide minerals

“Sulfur ore” can mean two things, and buyers and consultants should be clear which one a seller means.

• Native sulfur ore: rock containing elemental sulfur, found in salt-dome caprock (Gulf Coast, Poland, Mexico), in evaporite basins where bacteria converted gypsum to sulfur, and around volcanic vents (Ijen, Andean volcanoes such as Lastarria in Chile). This is the only ore mined for sulfur itself.
• Sulfide ores: metal minerals that contain sulfur, such as pyrite (iron sulfide, “fool’s gold”), chalcopyrite (copper-iron sulfide), sphalerite (zinc sulfide) and galena (lead sulfide). These are mined for the metal; the sulfur is a byproduct captured at the smelter. Pyrite can also be roasted on purpose to make sulfuric acid (pyrite), a practice now concentrated in China.
• Sulfate minerals: gypsum and anhydrite (calcium sulfate) contain almost limitless sulfur, says USGS, but there is no low-cost way to extract it at scale.

USGS puts world resources of elemental sulfur in evaporite and volcanic deposits plus sulfur tied to natural gas, petroleum, tar sands and metal sulfides at about 5 billion tonnes, with a further 600 billion tonnes in coal, oil shale and organic-rich shale. The US holds about one fifth of the world resource. If you want to see how these deposit families compare with metal ore types, our guide to sulfur mines and sulfur ore trends covers the market side.

▶ Remote sensing for mining explained without jargon · 2:01

Why is sulfur rarely mined anymore?

Because recovered sulfur is a byproduct, it costs almost nothing extra to produce: refiners and gas plants must remove it anyway to meet fuel and air quality rules. Since the 1970s that steady flow has undercut mined sulfur, which carries the full cost of drilling, heating water or digging (Frasch process). USGS sums it up plainly: because most sulfur comes from processing fossil fuels, supplies are expected to be adequate for the foreseeable future.

This has a practical consequence for anyone holding a native sulfur showing. A deposit that would have been a mine in 1930 usually cannot compete today unless it is high grade, near a large acid user and far from refinery supply. Prices in 2025 and 2026 have been high, but a mine needs years of good prices, not one strong quarter.

What is sulfur mined for? The main uses

The single biggest use is sulfuric acid. About 90% of the sulfur consumed in the US in 2025 was used in that form (USGS, 2026), and the acid is a key commodity chemical used in fertilizer, mineral processing and oil refining (sulfuric acid).

Phosphate fertilizer

The principal use of sulfuric acid is breaking down phosphate rock to make phosphoric acid and then fertilizers such as DAP and MAP. USGS links swings in US sulfur demand to phosphate rock consumption and expects new demand from phosphate projects mostly in Africa and west Asia. Sulfur is also a plant nutrient in its own right, applied as ammonium sulfate, gypsum or sulfur bentonite; see our overview of sulfur bentonite and elemental sulfur products.

Metal leaching in mining

Mines use sulfuric acid to dissolve copper from oxide ore in heap leach and solvent extraction plants, to leach uranium, and to process laterite nickel by high-pressure acid leach (HPAL). USGS expects growth in HPAL nickel for battery materials to raise sulfur demand. For a copper or nickel project, acid can be one of the largest operating costs, which is why the price section below matters.

Refining, chemicals and industry

• Petroleum refining (alkylation acid) and wastewater treatment.
• Rubber vulcanization, where sulfur crosslinks rubber for tyres.
• Pulp and paper (sulfites), detergents (sulfate surfactants), and food preservation.
• Carbon disulfide for rayon and cellophane, matches, and sulfur concrete.
• Fungicides and insecticides: elemental sulfur is one of the oldest crop protection products (sulfur overview).

USGS notes there are no satisfactory substitutes for sulfur at current prices; some other acids can replace sulfuric acid in a few uses, usually at a higher cost. Recycling also plays a part: between 2.5 and 5 million tonnes of spent sulfuric acid is reclaimed from refining and chemical processes each year in the US.

Sulfur prices and what they mean for mining projects

Sulfur prices swing widely. The USGS average unit value for US elemental sulfur (FOB mine or plant) was US$90.40 per tonne in 2021, US$177.80 in 2022, US$58.90 in 2023, US$46.42 in 2024 and about US$180 in 2025. Total US shipments in 2025 were worth about US$1.4 billion, US$1 billion more than in 2024, almost entirely because of price.

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US sulfur average value

US$ per tonne of elemental sulfur, FOB mine or plant; 2025 is an estimate

Contract prices at Tampa, Florida, the US benchmark for the phosphate industry, started 2025 at US$116 per long ton, reached US$270 in early April and US$310 in early October 2025 (USGS). They then climbed much further: the third-quarter 2026 Tampa contract settled at a record US$705 per long ton delivered, as reported by Argus Media and confirmed in Fertilizer Daily’s report on Mosaic’s settlement (August 2026). Spot molten sulfur traded above US$800 per long ton at times during 2026, per the same report. A long ton is 1.016 metric tonnes.

For a leach project, the rule of thumb follows from chemistry: one tonne of sulfuric acid contains about 0.327 tonnes of sulfur (32 of its 98 mass units). A plant using 100,000 tonnes of acid a year made from purchased sulfur therefore needs about 32,700 tonnes of sulfur. The calculator below turns that into a cost at whatever price you enter.

Environmental and safety points in sulfur mining

Sulfur itself is low in toxicity, but its compounds are not. Hydrogen sulfide at gas plants can cause collapse within minutes at high concentrations (OSHA), sulfur dioxide from smelters and volcanoes harms lungs and forms acid rain, and stored sulfur blocks can burn. Mining sulfide ores carries a separate risk: exposed pyrite oxidises to acid that leaches metals into streams, known as acid mine drainage (see our article on acid mine drainage and water pH). At Ijen the crater lake water has a measured pH as low as 0.13 because of dissolved sulfuric acid (Ijen).

For consultants, the checks are the familiar ones: gas monitoring and permits for any recovery plant, a sulfide and acid generation test on waste rock, closure plans for stockpiles, and water quality baselines downstream. Satellite imagery helps at the screening stage, for example to map yellow sulfur or iron-oxide staining, stockpile footprints and vegetation stress around a site before a field visit. Farmonaut provides that kind of satellite screening for mining areas.

▶ The seven environmental impacts of mining explained in clay animation · 2:31

How to assess a native sulfur prospect

Most enquiries about sulfur deposits come from owners of volcanic or evaporite ground. A short, honest checklist:

Infographic

Native sulfur prospect review in 5 steps

1. 1Confirm formAssay elemental sulfur apart from sulfate and sulfide.
2. 2Grade and tonnageCheck sulfur percent and the size of the body.
3. 3CompetitionLocate refineries, gas plants and smelters nearby.
4. 4LogisticsPrice transport to acid and fertilizer users.
5. 5Safety and accessReview gas hazards, protected areas and permits.

1. Confirm the form. Get assays that separate elemental sulfur from sulfate (gypsum) and sulfide (pyrite). Only elemental sulfur is cheap to recover.
2. Check grade and tonnage. Grade is the percentage of sulfur in the rock. Low-grade volcanic ground rarely pays at any realistic price.
3. Map the competition. Find the nearest refineries, gas plants and smelters that sell recovered sulfur or acid into the same market.
4. Price the logistics. Sulfur is bulky and cheap per tonne, so the distance to a fertilizer plant, mine or port often decides the case.
5. Look at safety and access. Active volcanic areas have gas hazards, protected status and tourism conflicts; Ijen is a busy tourist site.

Our separate guide to sulfur mining extraction methods goes deeper into each technique. You can also read how satellite-based mineral detection works or send details through the mining query form or the contact page.

▶ How satellite pixels become tonnes and grade · 2:54

Frequently asked questions

Where is sulfur mined in the world?

Most sulfur is recovered, not mined: China, the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Canada and Kazakhstan lead output from oil, gas and smelting (USGS, 2026). Native sulfur is still mined by the Frasch method in Poland, Mexico and Ukraine and by hand at Ijen volcano in Indonesia.

Is sulfur still mined?

Yes, but only in small amounts. Over the last fifty years cheap byproduct sulfur from refineries and gas plants replaced most mines; the last US Frasch mine closed in 2000.

Why is sulfur not mined in the United States anymore?

Refineries and gas plants in Louisiana, Texas and other states recover millions of tonnes as a byproduct, so a mine cannot compete on cost. US output in 2025 was about 8.1 million tonnes, all from recovery.

What is sulfur mined for?

Mainly to make sulfuric acid, which is used for phosphate fertilizers, metal leaching, refining and chemicals. Smaller uses include rubber vulcanization, fungicides, paper and detergents.

What is the ore of sulfur?

Native sulfur in salt-dome caprock, evaporites and volcanic deposits is the true sulfur ore. Sulfide minerals such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena also contain sulfur, but they are mined for their metals.

Which metal ores contain sulfur?

Copper (chalcopyrite, chalcocite), zinc (sphalerite), lead (galena), nickel (pentlandite) and iron (pyrite) ores are common sulfides. Their sulfur is captured at smelters as sulfuric acid.

How is sulfur extracted from natural gas?

Amine units remove hydrogen sulfide from the gas, then a Claus plant burns part of it to sulfur dioxide and reacts the two over a catalyst to form liquid sulfur.

How much sulfur is produced each year?

About 84 million tonnes in all forms in 2025, according to USGS estimates, almost unchanged from 2024.

What is the price of sulfur?

Prices vary by market and contract. The Tampa third-quarter 2026 contract settled at a record US$705 per long ton delivered (Argus, 2026); the USGS average US plant value for 2025 was about US$180 per tonne.

Where is sulphur found in nature?

Sulphur (the British spelling) occurs as the native element near volcanoes and in salt domes, in sulfide and sulfate minerals, and in crude oil, natural gas and coal.