Thulium is a soft, malleable, ductile, lustrous silver-white metal.
It is one of the rare-earth metals of the lanthanide series in group IIIb of the periodic table . It does not tarnish rapidly in dry air but should be protected from moisture. It forms compounds with oxygen and the halogens, most of which are light green. Thulium is the least abundant of the rare-earth metals. It is found in the minerals gadolinite and euxenite and in monazite, the chief commercial source.