Smelter catchments

Start from a plant and see which deposits within haul distance could feed it, or start from your mine or deposit and see which smelters, refineries and concentrators could take its concentrate. Every result shows its country, the straight-line freight per dry tonne, and a tag where the route crosses a border.

How it works

Choose the mineral.
Choose the country. India and South Africa were re-checked plant by plant in September 2026.
Choose a smelter, refinery or mine, or your own deposit.
Set the haul radius, 50 to 500 km. Plants and deposits across a border are included and tagged.

Then the next step: a scoping note from Victoria, the route in the Trade Desk, and a brief to take away.

Open plants in the checked countries

Counts only. Names, locations and distances need a free account.

India

Aluminium (bauxite and alumina)13
Copper6
Rare earths6
Lead4
Zinc4
Titanium1

South Africa

Platinum group metals18
Chromium6
Titanium3
Copper2
Manganese2
Phosphate2
Aluminium (bauxite and alumina)1
Vanadium1

Where the points come from

Plants: the MiningBridge facility register of 2,017 sites. India and South Africa were re-checked against operator and public sources on 2026-09-28; each checked plant links to its source. Other countries are older register records. Deposits: 20,612 USGS Mineral Resources Data System records with a producer, plant or prospect status.

Read the deposit data with care

About two thirds of the USGS records are in the United States, about half are prospects rather than mines, and many are decades old. A prospect is not a mine, and a record is not a resource. Fit is metallurgical association, not an assay.

How freight is costed

Straight-line distance × $0.090/t-km by road or $0.045/t-km by rail, plus $12/DMT handling. Real routes are longer, so read these as floors. For tailings and residues, see secondary recovery.