A New Zirconium Find in Xinjiang Covers What 40 Large Mines Would

October 31 — According to CCTV Finance today, a zircon sand deposit of ancient river-and-lake origin — the first of its kind found in China — has been discovered in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, which will greatly raise the country’s self-sufficiency in zirconium.

Between 2006 and 2019, reworking existing geological data identified several zirconium (hafnium) anomalies and prospecting targets.

Since 2024, work focused on areas favourable for zirconium mineralisation, and three years of effort produced a major discovery. To honour the contributions of two geologists, Peng Yu and Wang Haitao, the deposit was named “Yuhai”.

In September 2026, a review confirmed that the Yuhai deposit’s reserves are equivalent to more than 40 large zirconium mines, with associated hafnium also reaching super-large scale.

An official from the Xinjiang natural resources department said the region will move quickly to auction mining rights for Yuhai and push the holder to increase reserves and production, aiming to make it a nationally important base for resource exploration and development.

Zirconium and hafnium sit in the same group of the periodic table and have very similar physical and chemical properties; in nature they occur together, so minerals that contain zirconium but no hafnium are hard to find. They are like twins that rarely separate, and separating them efficiently remains a scientific challenge.

Zirconium barely absorbs neutrons and is highly corrosion- and heat-resistant, making it ideal for nuclear fuel cladding: it withstands high temperatures and corrosion without absorbing the neutrons produced by fission, keeping the chain reaction stable.

Hafnium, by contrast, “loves” neutrons, which makes it a core material for reactor control rods — inserting or withdrawing the rods precisely adjusts the fission rate.

Zirconium’s corrosion resistance also makes it widely used in chemical equipment, marine engineering and human implants, while dense, high-melting-point hafnium is used in rocket engine nozzles and spacecraft thermal protection systems.

Zirconium is useful but unevenly distributed: global reserves are concentrated in Australia, which holds about 70%, while China has less than 1%. The discovery at Baicheng fills a gap in China’s search for super-large zirconium (hafnium) deposits and will substantially strengthen the country’s resource security.