Thallium: a new frontier to Brazilian mining?

In an interview to newspaper “Valor Econômico”, Brazilian businessman Olacyr de Moraes, who rised to fame as the “King of Soybean”, revealed he is investing in a new venture: thallium mining – so far, the heavy metal is only extracted as a by-product from minerals that return other metals such as zinc. By the way of its mining research and development firm, Itaoeste, Moraes wants to obtain a license to start producing the metal, and expects it by the end of the year.

The entrepreneur said Itaoeste is holding talks with three foreign groups interested in team up to develop a thallium deposit in Barreiras, in Bahia state, where a single area has indicated reserves of 60 tonnes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), global consumption for thallium is around 10 tonnes per year.

Some of the metal’s purposes include metallic superconductors, glass, LEDs and radiocontrasts in cardiovascular examinations. China and Kazakhstan are the world’s leading producers of thallium. In these countries, the metal appears linked to zinc, lead and copper in the ore, while in the Brazilian deposits, thallium was found among manganese and cobalt.