630 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



fourth of the tellurium from copper resources. The 

 values for tellurium from lead ores given in table 

 129 are about one-fourth of the resources from 

 copper ores. On the basis of 140 million tons of 

 lead, this estimate requires 1.3 pounds of tellurium 

 per ton of lead ; the estimate is probably high. 



The average content of tellurium in coal is taken 

 at one-hundredth of the selenium estimate or 0.015 

 ppm (parts per million) tellurium; this value is 

 probably low, but is significant as a reserve because 

 tellurium would be recoverable with selenium. In 

 table 130 the average tellurium content of coal used 



Table 130. — Tellurium content (in pounds) of annual coal 

 consumption (in millions of tons) at four operating power- 

 plants in Western United States 



[Data from U.S. Geol. Survey, 1972] 



Total 

 Annual tellurium 



consump- Calculated content of 

 tion coal Te ^ con- annual coal 

 Location of powerplants (in mil- tent coal consump- 



lions tons) (in ppm) tion (in 

 pounds) 



Four Corners, N. Mex 7.0 0.025 350.0 



Cholla, Ariz .4 .002 1.6 



Mohave, Nev 6.7 .013 187.2 



Hayden, Colo 6.25 .006 75.0 



> Calculated from tellurium in fly ash and fly ash = 0.75 total ash. 



in four operating powerplants in Western United 

 States is given, together with the tonnages used per 

 year. The calculated tellurium content ranges from 

 0.002 to 0.025 ppm, and we find 613.8 pounds of 

 tellurium in 20.35 million tons of coal ; in the same 

 coal we found 66,300 pounds of selenium which 

 gives a ratio of about 100 selenium to 1 tellurium. 

 Using this ratio the estimated annual release of 

 tellurium from the combustion of coal in the United 

 States is about 80,000 pounds. All, or virtually all, 

 of this tellurium would be contained in the fly ash. 



Tellurium is enriched in oceanic manganese oxide 

 nodules. The median tellurium content of 12 sam- 

 ples from diverse locations in the Pacific and Indian 

 Oceans is 30 ppm (Lakin and others, 1963). If it is 

 assumed that manganese oxide nodules contain only 

 10 ppm tellurium and we have an estimated 90 

 billion tons of nodules, then there is a potential 

 resource of 1,980 million pounds of tellurium in 

 these ocean deposits. 



REFERENCES 



Ageton, R. W., 1970, TWlurium, in Mineral facts and prob- 

 lems: U.S. Bur. Mines Bull. 650, p. 739-747. 



Cooper, W. C, ed., 1971, Tellurium: New York, Van Nos- 

 trand Reinhold Co., 437 p. 



Hubert, A. E., 1971, A sensitive method for the determina- 

 tion of tellurium in vegetation, in Geological Survey re- 

 search 1971, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 750-D, p. 

 D162-D164. 



Kelly, W. C, and Goddard, E. N., 1969 Telluride ores of 

 Boulder County, Colorado: Geol. Soc. America Mem. 

 109, 237 p. 



Kingston, G. A., 1966, The occurrence of platinoid bismutho- 

 tellurides in the Merensky Reef at Rustenburg platinum 

 mine in the western Bushveld: Mineralog. Mag., v. 35, 

 p. 815-834. 



Lakin, H. W., Thompson, C. E., and Davidson, D. F., 1963, 

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 manganese oxides: Science, v. 142, no. 3599, p. 1568- 

 1569. 



Lausche, A. M., 1967, Selenium and tellurium, a material 

 survey (with a chapter on resources by D. F. Davidson) : 

 U.S. Bur. Mines Inf. Circ. 8340, 56 p. 



Pauling, Linus, 1960, The nature of the chemical bond: 

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Sindeeva, N. D., 1964, Mineralogy and types of deposits of 

 selenium and tellurium: Intersci. Publishers, New York, 

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U. S. Geol. Survey, 1972, Composition and trace element con- 

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 61 p. 



