The mineral talcum is usually found in the same geologic deposits as the mineral asbestos. Asbestos has been linked to the rare cancer mesothelioma. Talcum and asbestos share similarities that make the emergence of one mineral a prime location for the emergence of the other. As a result, many of the mines that extract talcum from the ground also encounter significant deposits of asbestos ore, as well. It should come as no surprise, then, that talcum is frequently contaminated with asbestos when it is mined, even when care is taken to keep them separate. Even though the talcum powder that eventually gets sold as baby powder gets ground up and refined after extraction, removing all of the asbestos contamination is nearly impossible. In short, there is no asbestos-free talcum because there are always trace amounts of the carcinogen.