Where is tellurium mined

For more than a century, tellurium was considered an experimental material having little commercial value. It eventually became useful as an alloying additive used in steel and nonferrous alloys to improve machining characteristics and to stabilize cast iron. Today, tellurium is used in cadmium telluride thin-film solar cells, which are becoming increasingly efficient and cost competitive.

In addition to solar cells, tellurium in the form of semiconducting bismuth telluride is used in thermoelectric cooling devices for military and electronics applications, such as the cooling of infrared detectors, integrated circuits, laser diodes and medical instruments. As of , the estimated use of tellurium was 40 percent in solar photovoltaics, 30 percent in thermoelectric devices, 15 percent in metallurgy, 5 percent in rubber applications and 10 percent in other applications.

Owing to increases in solar cell production in the United States and Europe and thermoelectronics in China, the global demand for tellurium in recent years has increased significantly.

Despite increasing demand, estimated global production has remained relatively unchanged while surplus inventories have been exhausted. Due to the rapid increase in price, metallurgical demand for tellurium dropped; meanwhile demand for high-purity tellurium, used in electronics applications such as solar photovoltaics and thermoelectric devices, increased.

In , the solar cell market became oversupplied, several solar manufacturers filed for bankruptcy or curtailed some of their production, and the price of tellurium dropped dramatically. In anticipation of renewed demand in the future, production from sources other than copper anode slimes is expected to increase. The plant will have a capacity to produce approximately 20 tonnes of tellurium per year.

Rio Tinto expects to begin production of tellurium in the fourth quarter of , creating a new North American supply chain for this critical mineral. Tellurium is an essential component of cadmium telluride, a semiconductor used to manufacture thin film photovoltaic PV solar panels. Thin films made of this compound can efficiently convert sunlight into electricity.

Tellurium can also be used as an additive to steel and copper to improve machinability, making these metals easier to cut. It can also be added to lead to increase resistance to sulfuric acid, vibration and fatigue.

Adding tellurium to our product portfolio provides customers in North America with a secure and reliable source of tellurium produced at the highest environmental and labour standards with renewable energy.

Rio Tinto is committed to using innovation to reduce waste in our production process and extract as much value as possible from the material that we mine and process.

The new tellurium plant is another valuable contribution to critical mineral independence and energy security in the U. Along with producing almost 20 per cent of U. In total, nine products are currently recovered from the ore extracted at Kennecott. Rio Tinto is a partner with the U. The company is also investing in new facilities to extract battery grade lithium from waste rock at its Boron, California mine site and high quality scandium oxide from waste streams at its metallurgical complex in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec.

As part of its commitment to a more sustainable future, Kennecott decided in to permanently shut its coal power plant and purchase renewable energy certificates, reducing the annual carbon footprint associated with its operation by as much as 65 per cent.

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