From the category archives:

Tellurium

Rare Metals In The Age Of Technology

by Jack Lifton January 10, 2010

I’ve just completed the finishing touches to a new report that I’ve written for subscribers to The Jack Lifton Report.
In December 2009, I was invited to New York’s Essex House by CLSA, one of Asia’s leading independent brokerage and investment groups, to present a short seminar on “Rare Metals in the Age of Technology” to [...]

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The Tellurium Supply Conjecture

by Jack Lifton July 9, 2009

The market fundamentals of the technology metal tellurium are an enigma. There is no general agreement whatsoever on the size of the global supply, the rate of production or the location(s) of that production. Yet, the small but consistent uses of tellurium in steel and copper alloying, as well as in military applications, has now [...]

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Tellurium Is Not Now Nor Likely To Be Produced In Sufficient Quantites To Support a Thin-Film Photovoltaic Solar Cell Industry Based On Cadmium Telluride

by Jack Lifton March 12, 2009

There are some practical reasons why a mass-produced technology cannot depend critically on the metal tellurium:

There is very little new tellurium produced annually, certainly less than 1000 metric tons (t),
There is very little likelihood that additional tellurium production. based mainly on increased total recovery of tellurium byproducts from base metal ores. can more than double [...]

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The Non-Silicon “Solar” Bubble May Be Popping: Reality Finally Catches Up With Thin Film Photovoltaic Solar Cells

by Jack Lifton March 3, 2009

There are two factors, which present obstacles that must be overcome if solar energy conversion is ever to be practical and widespread:

The limitations on the availability and/or production of the natural resources needed to manufacture the best currently known technologies, and
The comparative economics of “solar” energy conversion and all other alternate energy conversion technologies.

It’s official: [...]

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