Tellurium - potential added value GGX GOLD CORP.: TELLURIUM S UNIQUE VALUE
After GGX Gold Corp. released its high-grade tellurium results, the company received numerous enquiries asking for information about tellurium and its uses.
Highlights:
- COD18-67 -- 129 grams per tonne gold, 1,154 grams per tonne silver and 823 grams per tonne tellurium over a 7.28-metre core length;
- COD18-70 -- 107 grams per tonne gold, 880 grams per tonne silver and 640 grams per tonne tellurium over a 6.9-metre core length.
Tellurium facts:
- Tellurium is on a list of 35 critical mineral commodities deemed critical to the security and prosperity of the United States.
- Pending tellurium shortages due to traditional recovery methods becoming obsolete.
Tellurium is a chemical element with symbol Te and atomic No. 52. It is a brittle, rare, silver-white metalloid. It is extremely rare in the crust of the earth, comparable with that of platinum.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) fact sheet, Tellurium -- The Bright Future of Solar Energy, explains that tellurium's primary use is for manufacturing films essential to thin film photovoltaic solar cells. When alloyed with other elements, such as cadmium, tellurium forms a compound that exhibits enhanced electrical conductivity. A thin film can efficiently absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity.
The past decade has seen an explosive growth in the production of thin-film solar panels. According to Global Market Insights, thin-film cadmium telluride solar panel production, which today accounts for 40 per cent of tellurium consumption, is expected to grow from $8-billion in 2016 to over $30-billion by 2024. At present, there are dozens of large-scale solar farms built or under way throughout the world. These massive solar farms mainly utilize advanced thin-film cadmium telluride technology. In addition, many corporations, institutions, schools and universities are building solar arrays.
Covering an area of 13,000 acres and achieving an output of 2,700 megawatts, Pavagada is currently the world's largest solar park.
In addition to its burgeoning use in the solar power industry and its metallurgical applications with copper and stainless steel, tellurium is finding new uses in the semiconductor industry, such as in the new phase change memory chips developed by Intel.
As the use of tellurium in thin-film solar applications grows, governments and industries have expressed concerns about the supply of tellurium to meet future demand. Most of the world's tellurium comes from copper refining. However, the USGS has noted: "New copper recovery processes are being considered for implementation, but these methods do not recover tellurium. As a result, alternative sources for this critical element must be considered."