Tanzania rose from no graphite to world's third-biggest miner
Natural graphite mine production, rank among the eight biggest miners of 2025, 2021 vs 2025 (USGS estimate).
- 1. By 2100, more than 1 in 3 people will be African
- 2. Nearly half the world's under-25s will be African by 2100
- 3. DR Congo is projected to outgrow the US by 2100
- 4. Kinshasa will soon be bigger than Paris and London combined
- 5. Two-thirds of the world's mobile money moves in Africa
- 6. Volcanic heat makes nearly 45% of the power Kenya generates
- 7. Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024
- 8. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
- 9. Most people in Africa are still offline
- 10. Africa formally recycles less than 1% of its e-waste
- 11. Ethiopia added over a third of Africa's new renewable power
- 12. Nigeria's cities now hold more people than Japan's
- 13. Sudan now has the world's most people displaced at home
- 14. Nigeria now has almost 25 million more people than Brazil
- 15. Six of the ten fastest-growing big cities are African
- 16. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
- 17. Six in ten child deaths now happen in sub-Saharan Africa
- 18. Rwanda spread electricity faster than any country since 2014
- 19. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
- 20. More sub-Saharan Africans now have mobile money than bank accounts
- 21. Sub-Saharan Africa's cities now hold more people than Latin America's
- 22. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
- 23. Nitrogen dioxide over Khartoum fell 39% after war began
- 24. Countries mostly without electricity fell from 33 to 15
- 25. Seven in ten West African mobile money accounts sit idle
- 26. Nigeria became the third-biggest sender of students abroad
- 27. Guinea overtook Australia as the world's biggest bauxite miner
- 28. DR Congo passed Chile in refined copper
- 29. Burkina Faso now sends half its exports to the UAE
- 30. Nouakchott's mobile internet sped from Africa's slowest to top 30
- 31. Nigeria now imports more solar panels than generators
- 32. Zimbabwe climbed to fourth among the world's lithium miners
- 33. Services now employ twice as many Ghanaian women as farms
- 34. Sub-Saharan Africa doubled its grain, mostly by farming more land
- 35. Sub-Saharan Africa added more rural people than the whole world
- 36. France fell from first to third among Côte d'Ivoire's suppliers
- 37. China's car sales to Ethiopia are now mostly electric
- 38. Guinea rose from 17th to second for investment in Africa
- 39. Africa now mines three-quarters of the world's manganese
- 40. Tanzania rose from no graphite to world's third-biggest miner
Tanzania's place among the world's graphite miners in 2025, with 75,000 t, from none mined in 2021.
Tanzania's output from 2022 to 2025, up every year: 13,200 t in 2023, 27,000 t in 2024.
Mozambique's output in 2025, down from 166,000 t in 2022, as Tanzania climbed past it.
the numbers & method
| 2021 (kt) | 2025 (kt) | |
|---|---|---|
| China | 820 | 1,400 |
| Madagascar | 70 | 80 |
| Tanzania | 0 | 75 |
| Brazil | 82 | 65 |
| Mozambique | 72 | 60 |
| Russia | 15 | 25 |
| India | 7 | 17 |
| Canada | 12 | 8 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate
U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS), Graphite (natural): world mine production by country, metric tons. 2024 and 2025 from MCS 2026 (2025 values are USGS estimates, rounded); 2021 from MCS 2023; 2022 and 2023 from MCS 2024 and MCS 2025 (latest edition for each year), read from the USGS MCS files via the progrss vault (usgs-minerals; GUIDELINES §4.11). Tonnes, 2021 then 2025: China 820,000 / 1,400,000; Madagascar 70,000 / 80,000; Tanzania 0 / 75,000; Brazil 82,000 / 65,000; Mozambique 72,000 / 60,000; Russia 15,000 / 25,000; India 7,000 / 17,000; Canada 12,000 / 8,000; world 1,130,000 / 1,800,000. Tanzania: 6,120 t (2022), 13,200 t (2023), 27,000 t (2024). Mozambique: 166,000 t (2022), 98,000 t (2023), 39,000 t (2024). Ranks are among the eight countries shown, the eight biggest miners of 2025 in the USGS table (North Korea, 8,000 t in 2025, ties Canada and is not shown); in 2020 and 2021 Tanzania reported no output (150 t in 2018 and 2019) and ranks last of the eight. Tanzania's 2025 rank rests on USGS estimates: Madagascar (80,000 t) and Brazil (65,000 t) are within 15% of it. Natural graphite only (synthetic graphite, made mostly in China, is not in this table). Graphite is the main material in lithium-ion battery anodes. USGS data are in the public domain.
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