This paper is the result of geological survey engineering.

Objective Bentonite is a silicate mineral with montmorillonite as the main component, widely used in industrial wastewater treatment, soil improvement, iron ore pellet bonding, biomedical and 3D printing and other fields due to its excellent properties. China is a large consumer of bentonite, in the face of the growing demand for bentonite resources, summarize the past research, rational use of bentonite resources, revelation of the direction of the search for minerals is particularly important.

Methods By collecting publicly published bentonite data, we systematically summarize the production and distribution of bentonite deposits in the world, the genesis of the deposits, the characteristics of mineralization, and the prospect of finding minerals.

Results The total global bentonite reserves of about 7 billion t, the global bentonite is mainly distributed in the Pacific Rim mining belt, the Indian Ocean mining belt and the Mediterranean Sea−Black Sea mining belt, the main distribution of domestic in the 22 mining areas, reserves a total of about 172 million t. Bentonite mine main genesis type for the volcanic sedimentary, weathering residual deposits and hydrothermal alteration, the typical deposits of the United States of America Wyoming bentonite deposits, Xinjiang Toxon Ker alkali bentonite deposits, Russia's tenth Huttol deposits and Argentina's northern Patagonia bentonite deposits. Typical deposits are Wyoming bentonite deposits in the United States, Xinjiang Tokon Ker alkali bentonite deposits, Russia's tenth Hutol deposits and Argentina's northern Patagonia bentonite deposits. Mesozoic and Cenozoic volcanic material distribution of closed or semi-closed water environment for bentonite provides important formation conditions.

Conclusions The sea basin in Wyoming and Montana of USA, the Mediterranean coastal shallow sea area, Chernogorsky Basin in Russia can be used as the world bentonite mining region. China's northeastern region, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Hubei, Liangzi Lake area, Xinjiang, Tianshan area of bentonite ore concentration can be used as bentonite ore prospecting area in China. In order to meet the growing demand for bentonite, it is recommended that in key areas targeted to strengthen the search for minerals, do a good job in the prediction of high−quality deposits, product transformation and upgrading, improve the utilization rate of bentonite, reduce the waste of resources.