{"slug":"tellurium","name":"Tellurium","aliases":["Te"],"category":"metals","subcategory":"minor-metals","tier":3,"what_is_it":"A brittle semimetal recovered as a by-product of copper refining and used mainly in cadmium-telluride solar cells, in thermoelectric devices and in metallurgy.","unit_display":"tonnes (refined tellurium)","wikidata":"Q1100","related":["copper","bismuth","selenium"],"exchanges":[],"industry_body":{"name":"US Geological Survey National Minerals Information Center","url":"https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/selenium-and-tellurium-statistics-and-information"},"hs":[],"trade_form":null,"processing_note":"Tellurium is recovered mainly from the anode slimes of copper refineries (more than 90% according to USGS) and the rest from lead-refinery skimmings and smelter flue dusts, so its supply follows copper refining.","production_note":null,"sources":{"usgs_mcs":{"id":"usgs_mcs","name":"USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries","short":"USGS MCS","url":"https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/mineral-commodity-summaries","license":"Public domain (US Government work)","license_url":"https://www.usgs.gov/information-policies-and-instructions/copyrights-and-credits","citation":"U.S. Geological Survey, {year}, Mineral Commodity Summaries {year}: U.S. Geological Survey. Data release https://doi.org/10.5066/P13XCP3R","redistribution":"full","vintage":"MCS 2026","fetched_at":"2026-10-08T06:37:07.348540+00:00"}},"production":{"items":[{"item_code":"Refinery production","item":"Refinery production (refined tellurium)","primary":true,"unit":"t","year":2025,"world":1000.0,"world_basis":"reported","rest_of_world":20.0,"top5_share":97.39999999999999,"n_countries":7,"top":[{"iso3":"CHN","name":"China","value":800.0,"share":80.0,"rank":1,"flag":"","cagr_10y":null},{"iso3":"RUS","name":"Russia","value":67.0,"share":6.7,"rank":2,"flag":"","cagr_10y":null},{"iso3":"JPN","name":"Japan","value":61.0,"share":6.1,"rank":3,"flag":"","cagr_10y":null},{"iso3":"CAN","name":"Canada","value":28.0,"share":2.8000000000000003,"rank":4,"flag":"","cagr_10y":null},{"iso3":"UZB","name":"Uzbekistan","value":18.0,"share":1.7999999999999998,"rank":5,"flag":"","cagr_10y":null},{"iso3":"ZAF","name":"South Africa","value":5.0,"share":0.5,"rank":6,"flag":"","cagr_10y":null},{"iso3":"BGR","name":"Bulgaria","value":1.0,"share":0.1,"rank":7,"flag":"","cagr_10y":null}],"years":[2024,2025],"series":{"CHN":{"2024":750.0,"2025":800.0},"RUS":{"2024":64.0,"2025":67.0},"JPN":{"2024":70.0,"2025":61.0},"CAN":{"2024":27.0,"2025":28.0},"UZB":{"2024":18.0,"2025":18.0},"ZAF":{"2024":5.0,"2025":5.0},"BGR":{"2024":1.0,"2025":1.0}},"world_series":{"2024":981.0,"2025":1000.0},"source_id":"usgs_mcs","vintage":"MCS 2026","flag_counts":{"":7}}]},"trade":{"tables":[]},"prices":{"series":[]}}