# Thallium

A highly toxic by-product of zinc, lead and copper smelting, used in gamma detectors, infrared optics and some heart scans.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/

Tech & minor metals · No. 53

- Not on a critical list
 Tech & minor metals · Foundation · Matter

Thallium is so toxic US drinking water may hold just 2 parts per billion, yet heart scans and gamma detectors use it.

Chart: Illustration: Thallium

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Commercial thallium comes from traces in copper, lead and zinc sulphide ores. Roasting sends it into the flue dust, which is leached and refined to 99.99% granules.

##### Three things to know

1. Thallium averages about 0.7 parts per million in the crust, but most is locked in potassium minerals where it cannot be recovered.
2. The US has produced no thallium since 1981, and the price has stayed within $8,400-9,500/kg since 2021.
3. Technetium-99m has displaced thallium-201 in cardiac imaging, so medical demand is slowly shrinking.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Sulphide ores**Zinc, lead and copper ores
2. 2 **Smelting**Roasted and smelted for base metals
3. 3 **Flue dust**Thallium collects in roaster dust
4. 4 **Leaching**Thallium recovered from the dust
5. 5 **Refining**99.99% granules and compounds
 Covered in [Criticality and geopoliticsCommodities](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/commodities/criticality-and-geopolitics/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/thallium/links/index.md)