(Yicai) May 15 -- Prices of fluorite, a mineral used in making steel, enamels, and batteries, surged to a four-year high in China amid limited supply due to strengthening environmental protection.

The price of fluorite, also known as fluorspar, hit a four-year high of CNY3,781 (USD524 ) per ton yesterday, up 7 percent from the beginning of this year, according to financial news provider 10Jqka.Com.Cn.

Insiders at Chinese producers said that fluorite wet powder with 97-percent purity costs nearly CNY4,000 per ton.

In March, the National Mine Safety Administration started a nationwide campaign to improve the safety of fluorite mines by August. The regulator said that many mining enterprises in Hebei and Zhejiang provinces, as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, carry significant risks so efforts should be made to strengthen sustainability, including closure, reorganization and upgrading.

Several mines in the three regions have recently suspended production, according to an analyst from commodity information provider Baiinfo. The inspection and rectification of fluorite mines have led to a low rate of operations and a shortage of raw ore, the person added.

The world had about 280 million tons of calcium fluoride as of late last year, up by around 8 percent from a year ago, according to data from the United States Geological Survey, a government agency. Most of the resources are located in Mexico, China, South Africa, and Mongolia.

Even a big exporter, China, has increased its imports of the mineral since 2018. In 2021, it bought about 670,000 tons of fluorite from abroad. Such exports dropped to 210,000 tons that year from a peak of 720,000 tons in 2011.

Editor: Emmi Laine