Zinc is the fourth most common metal in use, trailing only iron, aluminum, and copper with an annual production of about 10 million tonnes. The world's largest zinc producer is Nyrstar, a merger of the Australian OZ Minerals and the Belgian Umicore About 70% of the world's zinc originates from mining, while the remaining 30% comes from recycling secondary zinc. Commercially pure zinc is known as Special High Grade, often abbreviated
SHG, and is 99.995% pure.
Worldwide, 95% of the zinc is mined from sulfidic ore deposits, in which sphalerite ZnS is nearly always mixed with the sulfides of copper, lead and iron. There are zinc mines throughout the world, with the main mining areas being China, Australia and Peru.