Tellurium

Overview

Tellurium is a semi-metal, usually obtained as a gray powder. It was identified in 1783 by Franz-Joseph Müller von Reichenstein in ore from a mine in present-day Romania. It is very scarce in the Earth's crust, at about 0.001 parts per million, and rarely occurs uncombined in nature.¹

Its main use today is in cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar cells, which accounted for an estimated 70% of global consumption in 2025.² Because tellurium is a by-product, its supply depends directly on the supply of its host materials, primarily copper.²

Tellurium is on the US list of critical minerals.³

Where it comes from

More than 90% of tellurium has been produced from anode slimes, the residues that collect during electrolytic refining of primary copper. The rest comes from lead refinery skimmings and from flue dusts and gases produced when bismuth, copper and lead-zinc ores are smelted.² Anode slimes can contain up to 8% tellurium.¹ Reserves and resources are generally not reported at the mine or country level and cannot be reliably quantified.²

World refinery production was an estimated 1,000 t in 2025, excluding the United States. China accounted for about 80% of estimated output. Its production has grown strongly over the past decade, in line with an increase of nearly 75% in its electrolytic copper refining capacity.² Australia, Belgium, Chile, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and the Philippines may also produce refined tellurium, but there is not enough information to estimate their output.²

• China800 t · 78%
• Russia67 t · 7%
• Japan61 t · 6%
• Sweden48 t · 5%
• Canada28 t · 3%
• Other countries24 t · 2%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS rounds it to 1,000 t. US output is withheld, and several other possible producers are excluded for lack of reliable data. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Tellurium

In the United States, two primary electrolytic copper refineries, in Texas and Utah, produce copper telluride from anode slimes. Tellurium is not refined in the country; the copper telluride is exported for further processing, and US production figures are withheld to protect company data.²

What it is used for

{{chart:end-uses}}

• Solar cells. CdTe is the absorber in thin-film photovoltaic modules. In August 2025 the leading US maker of solar modules, which mainly produces CdTe modules, opened its fifth US plant and projected US capacity of as much as 14 gigawatts a year.²
• Thermoelectrics. Bismuth telluride is used in thermoelectric devices for cooling and power generation.²
• Metallurgy. Tellurium is added to steel and copper alloys to improve machinability, to cast iron to control the depth of chill, to lead alloys to improve resistance to vibration and fatigue, and to malleable iron as a carbide stabilizer.²
• Other uses include rubber vulcanization, catalysts for synthetic fibers, blasting caps, photodetectors, thermal-imaging devices and pigments for glass and ceramics.²

Grades and forms

Tellurium leaves copper refineries as copper telluride and is refined into metal, high-purity tellurium, tellurium dioxide and specialty compounds.² China's export controls cover tellurium metal and single-crystal or polycrystalline cadmium telluride, cadmium zinc telluride and mercury cadmium telluride, as well as the related production technology.⁴

Trade and policy

The United States relied on imports for more than 25% of its tellurium consumption in 2025. In 2021–24 its imports came from Canada (64%), the Philippines (14%), Japan (8%) and Germany (5%), with 9% from other countries.²

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Tellurium is recycled from CdTe solar cells in the United States, but volumes are small because most cells have not yet reached the end of their life.²

Most uses have substitutes, usually with some loss of efficiency or performance. Amorphous silicon and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) compete with CdTe in thin-film solar cells. Bismuth selenide and organic polymers can replace bismuth telluride in some thermoelectric devices. Bismuth, calcium, lead, phosphorus, selenium and sulfur can replace tellurium in many free-machining steels, and selenium or sulfur can serve as rubber vulcanizing agents.²

Sources

1. Tellurium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Tellurium. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals (90 FR 50494). Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. MOFCOM and GAC Announcement No. 10 of 2025 on export controls on tungsten-, tellurium-, bismuth-, molybdenum- and indium-related items. Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²