The main uses of tellurium are in photovoltaic solar cells and as an additive to copper, lead, and steel alloys in various types of machinery. Present production of tellurium from the United States is solely from the anode slimes at ASARCO LLC’s copper refinery in Amarillo, Texas, and may total about 50 metric tons per year. These deposits typically yield concentrations of 1 to 4 percent tellurium in the anode slimes recovered during copper refining. Most of the world’s tellurium, however, is produced as a byproduct of the mining of porphyry copper deposits. Combined, these two groups of deposits account for about 15 percent (about 70 metric tons) of the annual global production of between 450 and 470 metric tons of tellurium. Tellurium is presently recovered as a primary ore from only two districts in the world these are the gold-tellurium epithermal vein deposits located adjacent to one another at Dashuigou and Majiagou (Sichuan Province) in southwestern China, and the epithermal-like mineralization at the Kankberg deposit in the Skellefteå VMS district of Västerbotten County, Sweden. In large-tonnage mineral deposits, such as porphyry copper and seafloor volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, sulfide minerals may contain hundreds of parts per million tellurium, although the orebodies likely have overall concentrations of 0.1 to 1.0 parts per million tellurium. It shows a close association with gold and may be present in orebodies of most gold deposit types at levels of tens to hundreds of parts per million. Email: (Te) is a very rare element that averages only 3 parts per billion in Earth’s upper crust.

Copper tellurium