Tellurium Metal DNA™
· Atomic #52 · ₹10,426.82/kg today
Solar power's quieter alternative to silicon — a metal so thinly produced that it exists almost entirely as leftovers from someone else's copper refining.
Tellurium DNA Profile
Each dimension below is either computed live from data this site already tracks, or a manually researched figure with its own source — see how these are calculated.
How is this calculated?
Computed from the 30-day price change already stored in this site's own price history: score = 50 + (30-day % change × 2), clamped to 0–100. A metal flat over 30 days scores 50; every 1% of 30-day move shifts the score 2 points either way.
How is this calculated?
The standard deviation of daily % price changes over the last 10 trading days, scaled ×20 and clamped to 0–100. A purely descriptive measure of recent swing size, not a positive or negative signal on its own.
How is this calculated?
The single largest producing country's share of reported global production (excluding the "Other countries" residual bucket), taken directly from the USGS-sourced figures already powering /metal-reserves. Higher = more concentrated in one country.
No reliable dataset for this metal yet — shown honestly as not scored rather than a guessed number.
How is this calculated?
Summed reported reserves ÷ summed reported annual production, across only the countries USGS reports both figures for (same commodity, same units — never summed across commodities). Scaled: 40+ years of reserve life scores 100, scaled down linearly below that.
No reliable dataset for this metal yet — shown honestly as not scored rather than a guessed number.
How is this calculated?
Manually researched from each metal's primary industry association (see each metal's Sources section) — not computed. Scored as 100 minus the largest single demand sector's share of total demand, so a metal with no single dominant buyer group scores higher than one dependent on one sector.
No reliable dataset for this metal yet — shown honestly as not scored rather than a guessed number.
Scientific Identity
- Symbol
- Te
- Atomic Number
- 52
- Category
- Critical Minerals & Energy
Source: IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements. Further physical/chemical properties (density, melting point, electron configuration) are planned for a future update — not shown until individually verified per metal.
Solar's Alternative to Silicon
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar panels use tellurium as a core ingredient and offer a genuinely cost-competitive alternative to conventional silicon panels — a technology commercialised at real scale by manufacturers like First Solar in the United States.
A Byproduct of Copper, Not Its Own Mine
Virtually no mine digs for tellurium specifically — it's recovered from the anode slimes left over during copper refining, which means tellurium supply is tied to copper-refining volumes far more than to tellurium's own market price.
Rarer Than Gold in the Earth's Own Crust
Tellurium is genuinely one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust — rarer than gold by most geochemical estimates — which is the real reason, unlike almost every other metal on this site, essentially none of it is mined for its own sake. The entire market exists only because copper refiners happen to concentrate trace tellurium into anode slime as an incidental part of a completely different process.
Did You Know?
As India expands solar capacity toward its long-term renewable energy targets, tellurium demand for CdTe panels is one of the more direct ways a 'minor metal' most people have never heard of could see real, measurable demand growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tellurium Metal DNA™ is MetalsCost's intelligence profile combining scientific identity with market, supply and demand indicators — each indicator is either computed from this site's own stored price and reserves data, or a manually researched, cited figure. See the methodology page for exactly how.
Tellurium's overall score of 27/100 is a simple average of the individual dimensions currently scored for it below — click any dimension's "Why?" for its exact formula and source.
The Tellurium price in India today is ₹10,426.82 per kilogram as of August 28, 2026. See the live price and chart.
MetalsCost Metal DNA™ is an informational and analytical indicator. It is not investment advice, a price target, or a recommendation to buy or sell any commodity or financial instrument. See the methodology page for data sources and calculation details.
