Thallium: Characteristics
Soft, dense, toxic and still hard to replace
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 10 t (10,000 kg) world refinery output (2023, latest) | Thallium is recovered only as a by-product from flue dust of copper, lead and zinc ore roasting. China, Kazakhstan and Russia lead; most producers withhold data. US price $9,300/kg in 2025. | USGS MCS 2026, Thallium |
| Inventory and stock levels | not published | USGS reports that data on inventory for domestic use remained unavailable. There is no exchange and no government stockpile. Unrecovered thallium sits in smelter dusts and residues. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | Recovery depends on whether smelters run thallium circuits on their flue dust. Most thallium in base-metal ores is not recovered, so potential capacity far exceeds output, but no figure exists. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China, Kazakhstan and Russia lead; HHI not computable (country data withheld) | Thallium-rich deposits are known in Brazil, China, North Macedonia and Russia. US import sources 2021-24: Mexico 90%, France 4%, Japan 4%, Israel 2%. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Supply elasticity | very low: output set by zinc and lead smelting, not thallium price | Thallium is a by-product with a companionality of about 95% (share of output from host metals). A thallium price rise can only prompt more recovery from existing smelter dusts. | USGS MCS 2026; criticality brief (companionality 95, host zinc and copper) |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | none announced | No new thallium recovery projects are reported. Research on volcano-related U-Mo-Tl mineralisation in northeastern China points to possible new resources. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Logistics and export flows | tiny, tightly controlled flows; US exports of thallium articles 2,800 kg (2025) | Thallium moves as metal granules, compounds or in devices. As a highly toxic material it ships under hazardous-goods rules. US unwrought metal trade was nil in 2025. | USGS MCS 2026 |
Material characteristics Metal / hard commodity
Thallium is a soft, dense, highly toxic heavy metal. It is used in tiny amounts where its optical and nuclear properties are hard to replace: thallium-doped sodium iodide gamma detectors, infrared optics, high-temperature superconductors, high-density liquids and the cardiac imaging isotope thallium-201. Purity and toxicity control dominate commercial handling.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purity / grade | 99.99% granules (price basis, 100 g lots) | Reference grade for the $9,300/kg (2025) price | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Toxicity limit | US EPA drinking-water maximum contaminant level 2 parts per billion | Drives strict handling, packaging and disposal costs | USGS MCS 2026 citing US EPA |
| Density and melting point | about 11.85 g/cm3; melts about 304 °C (indicative, handbook values) | High density for heavy liquids and glass; low melting point for alloys and low-temperature thermometers with mercury | CRC Handbook (indicative) |
| Crustal abundance | about 0.7 ppm | Abundant but dispersed; only sulphide ores give recoverable thallium | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Scintillation activator | NaI(Tl): thallium-doped sodium iodide crystals | Industry standard gamma-ray detector; substitutes are less cost effective | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Medical isotope | Tl-201, half-life about 73 hours (indicative) | Cardiac stress imaging; being displaced by technetium-99m | USGS MCS 2026; nuclear data (indicative) |