Cadmium 2016

2016 Minerals Yearbook CADMIUM [ADVANCE RELEASE] U.S. Department of the Interior July 2018 U.S. Geological Survey Cadmium By Amy C. Tolcin Domestic survey data and tables were prepared by Sheema Merchant, statistical assistant. Refined cadmium was produced domestically by two of primary cadmium, were not available. Zinc concentrates companies. One company recovered cadmium as a byproduct typically contain from 0.2% to 0.3% cadmium. In 2016, zinc- of zinc recovery through the leaching of roasted sulfide concentrate-producing States were Alaska, Idaho, Missouri, concentrates at a smelter in Tennessee, and the other company Tennessee, and Washington. Zinc concentrates from Alaska, recovered secondary cadmium metal from recycled nickel- Idaho, Missouri, and Washington were exported for processing. cadmium (NiCd) batteries at a facility in Ohio. Annual domestic Zinc concentrates from Tennessee were smelted and refined in production and apparent consumption data were withheld to Tennessee and processed for byproduct cadmium recovery. avoid disclosing company proprietary data. Metal Production.—Domestic metal production data were The United States switched from being a net exporter to a collected by the U.S. Geological Survey from a voluntary net importer of unwrought cadmium metal and powders in survey of cadmium metal and compounds producers. In 2016, 2016, with net imports totaling 83 metric tons (t). Imports for cadmium metal was produced at one primary and one secondary consumption of unwrought cadmium increased slightly to 240 t smelter, and one producer responded to the survey. Annual in 2016 from 237 t in 2015, whereas exports decreased by 55% domestic production data were withheld to avoid disclosing to 157 t from 350 t (table 1). As in 2015, almost all cadmium company proprietary data. metal was exported to China in 2016 (table 2), and Canada Primary.—Nyrstar NV’s (Belgium) electrolytic zinc refinery continued to be the leading supplier of imports (table 3). Metal in Clarksville, TN, produced zinc metal and several byproducts, Bulletin’s average global free market price of cadmium metal in including cadmium metal. In 2016, the company’s East 2016 increased by 22% from that of 2015 to $1.34 per kilogram Tennessee zinc mines supplied most of the zinc concentrate feed ($0.61 per pound). At yearend 2015, Platts Metals Week treated at Clarksville. Nyrstar’s Middle Tennessee zinc mines, discontinued its New York dealer price of cadmium (table 1). which previously supplied the Clarksville smelter, were placed In 2016, estimated global primary production of cadmium, on care-and-maintenance status in December 2015 owing to a excluding U.S. production, was 23,900 t, 5% more than that of sharp decrease in zinc prices in the fourth quarter of 2015. As a 2015 (table 5). Secondary cadmium was estimated to account result, zinc metal production at Clarksville decreased by 10% in for about 20% of all cadmium metal produced (Morrow, 2011, 2016 because the facility processed lower grade zinc concentrate p. 8). Although detailed data on the global consumption of in place of the high-grade concentrate previously supplied by primary cadmium by end use in 2016 were not available, NiCd the Middle Tennessee mines (Nyrstar NV, 2017, p. 22–23). battery production was thought to have continued to account for Secondary.—Retriev Technologies Inc.’s (Anaheim, CA) the majority of global cadmium consumption. Other end uses battery recycling operations in Lancaster, OH, recovered for cadmium included alloys, anticorrosive coatings, pigments, cadmium metal in the form of ingot from consumer and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) stabilizers, and semiconductors for industrial NiCd batteries. solar cells. Cadmium metal is sold in several shapes and forms depending on end use: slabs or sticks are commonly consumed Consumption for alloys; balls and spheres for plating; and flakes, powder, or Data on the domestic consumption of cadmium were not sticks for chemicals and pigments. available. According to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics Legislation and Government Programs (2017), global consumption of cadmium in 2016 was essentially unchanged from that of 2015 at 27,500 t. Most of the cadmium In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) consumed globally was thought to be used in NiCd batteries. announced an update to its recommended aquatic-life ambient Other uses included alloys, coatings, pigments, solar cells, water-quality criteria for cadmium. Most of the updated and stabilizers. guidelines were more stringent than the previous guidelines Nickel-Cadmium Batteries.—The NiCd battery industry published in 2001 and were based on new scientific data, was almost exclusively located in Asia, and the leading updated toxicity studies, and current EPA policies and methods. manufacturers included BYD Co., Ltd. (China) and Panasonic The new criteria were not legally binding, but could be adapted Corp. (Japan). Saft Groupe S.A. (France) was also a significant into standards by States and tribes authorized to establish producer of NiCd batteries. Small portable batteries were used water-quality standards under the Clean Water Act (U.S. to power consumer electronics (commonly, power tools), and Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). large industrial NiCd batteries were used predominantly for aeronautical and railway applications. In railway and transit Production systems, NiCd batteries were used to start locomotive engines and to power passenger cars and trackside signaling. In Mine Production.—Domestic data on the recoverable airplanes, NiCd batteries provided startup power for jet engines cadmium content of zinc concentrates, the principal source CADMIUM—2016 [ADVANCE RELEASE] 16.1 and emergency backup power for aircraft electrical systems World Industry Structure (Morrow, 2011, p. 10–11). Pigments.—Inorganic cadmium pigments are based Primary Production.—Global cadmium production, on cadmium sulfide, which is golden yellow in color. excluding United States production, increased by 5% to an The replacement of zinc or mercury for cadmium and the estimated 23,900 t, primarily the result of increased production substitution of selenium for sulfur form the spectrum of in Canada (table 5). Most (59%) of the world’s refined cadmium pigments that range from bright yellow to maroon. cadmium was produced in Asia and the Pacific (Australia, Cadmium pigments were predominantly used to color China, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea), followed by engineering plastics that were processed at high temperatures Europe and Central Eurasia (Bulgaria, Germany, Kazakhstan, and in artists’ paints. the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Uzbekistan) In December 2013, Sweden submitted a proposal to the with 22%; North America (Canada and Mexico), 15%; and European Union for legislation that would prohibit the sale of South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Peru), 4%. Major global cadmium pigments for artists’ paints based on the claim that producers of primary cadmium are listed in table 4. cadmium compounds could be released into waste water and Secondary Production.—Most secondary metal was become a component of the sewage sludge used to treat food recovered at NiCd battery recycling facilities in Asia, Europe, crops. In response, artists in Europe signed a petition against the and the United States. In Asia, NiCd battery recyclers included ban citing that there were no alternatives to the colors provided Kansai Catalyst Co., Ltd., KOBAR Ltd., and Korea Zinc Co. by cadmium pigments. In October 2015, the European Union Ltd. in the Republic of Korea and Nippon Recycle Center terminated the proposal, concluding that the amount of cadmium Corp. in Japan. In Europe, NiCd battery recycling took place from artists’ paints in food crop soil was negligible compared at Accurec GmbH’s facility in Germany, Saft AB’s plant in to contributions from other cadmium-containing sources Sweden, and Société Nouvelle D’Affinage des Métaux’s (a (Clark and Allidina, 2014; Official Journal of the European subsidiary of Floridienne Group) recycling facilities in France. Union, 2015). Consumption.—Based on production and trade data, China was Coatings and Plating.—Cadmium anticorrosive coatings the leading consumer of cadmium, followed by, in descending were used by the aerospace industry and military for some order of quantity, India, Belgium, Sweden, and Japan. Most of critical applications where coating substitution might the NiCd battery manufacturing industry was located in China compromise operational safety. The metal was commonly used and, to a lesser degree, in Japan. In India, cadmium was thought to plate fasteners in aircraft landing gear and parachutes owing to be consumed mostly for the production of precious-metal to a combination of properties not available from other coatings. alloys for jewelry. In Belgium, Aurea SA (France, formerly Solar.—Cadmium was used for the production of cadmium Floridienne Chimie S.A.), an intermediate processor of telluride (CdTe), a semiconducting compound used in thin-film cadmium, accounted for almost all of the country’s cadmium photovoltaics. First Solar, Inc. (Tempe, AZ) was a leading consumption for the production of cadmium compounds. producer of CdTe-based solar modules with manufacturing World Review locations in Perrysburg, OH, and Kulim, Malaysia (First Solar, Inc., 2017, p. 11). 5N Plus Inc. (Canada) was the sole Australia.—In 2016, Nyrstar was in the process of increasing supplier of CdTe to First Solar (5N Plus Inc., 2014). PPM Pure its

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