Vancouver, BC, Canada, June 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (the “Company” or “First Tellurium”), reports that Rio Tinto Kennecott has begun processing tellurium at its Bingham Canyon Copper Mine near Salt Lake City, Utah. As a result, Kennecott is now one of only two U.S. producers of tellurium. The recently-completed, $2.9 million recovery circuit will produce approximately 20 tons of tellurium annually, or about 4% of global annual production estimated at 580 tonnes.
“Kennecott’s Utah project reinforces our premise that tellurium’s importance is growing and growing quickly,” said FTEL’s CEO Tyrone Docherty. “With tellurium on both the U.S. and Europe’s lists of critical metals, we continue to field inquiries about the tellurium at our Deer Horn Project in British Columbia and Klondike Project in Colorado, especially from end users.”
The Deer Horn Project, located south of Smithers, holds one of the world’s few 43-101-compliant resources of tellurium. The Klondike Project was held originally by First Solar, one of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturers, as a potential primary tellurium source for its cadmium-telluride (CdTe) solar panels.
Docherty added that, according to Maia Research, tellurium usage is growing at a 5.5% annual rate. “Nearly all tellurium currently comes from copper mining,” said Docherty. “End users don’t like being dependent on the copper market for supply. Big…
