This paper is the result of mineral exploration engineering.

Objective Zirconium is a rare metal and one of the key metal minerals. Because of its high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, easy processing, good mechanical properties and stable chemical properties, zirconium metal and zirconium compounds have key applications in military industry, refractories, ceramics and other industries, and zircon is widely used in geological dating and tracing magma source areas.

Methods By collecting and summarizing the previous research data, this paper studies the distribution of zirconium ore resources, the characteristics of zirconium deposit types and the key applications of zirconium metal and its alloys in China.

Results Zirconium deposits in China are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Hainan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, and the sum of the zirconium deposits in these five provinces accounts for 97.6% of the national reserves. Zirconium mine in China has a poor resource endowment, with a reserve of about 500000 tons (calculated by ZrO₂), accounting for only 1% of the global reserves. China's annual demand for zirconium ore is about 1.2 million tons, but China's annual imports of zirconium ore are about 1.1 million tons, and the degree of external dependence of zirconium ore is as high as 90%. Zirconium deposits in China can be divided into endogenetic deposits and exogenetic deposits, among which endogenetic deposits can be divided into four types: alkaline granite, pegmatite, alkaline rock and granulite, while exogenetic deposits can be divided into three types: coastal deposit, river impact, weathering crust and eluvial deposit.

Conclusions Based on previous research data, endogenetic deposits are closely related to alkaline rocks, alkaline granites and pegmatites, and the northern margin fault zone of Tarim−North China Craton and the southern section of Daxing'anling Mountains have great prospecting potential. Exogenous deposits are mainly sand deposits, which are mainly distributed in the coastal zone of Hainan Island, the southeast coastal zone and the Bohai Sea–Yellow Sea zone. The eastern sea area of Hainan Island, the mouth of Changhua River in the west and the southeast coastal zone of Jiaodong Peninsula have great prospecting potential.