88 



UNITED STATES MINERAL RESOURCES 



nonberyl ores. Nonberyl ores were recalculated as 

 equivalent amounts of beryl in preparing figure 11. 

 There has othei'wise been little change in the sources 

 (table 16) since 1939, when Brazil first became a 



Table 16. — Sources of beryl ore used in the industry of the 

 United States 



[Data from U.S. Bureau of Mines, 19B3; 1953-69] 



Percent of total 



Country 



1936-51 1962-69 1960-68 



Brazil 49 27 32 



Republic of South Africa ._ 10 11 5 



India 8 11 13 



Argentina 12 15 10 



Mozambique 2 13 10 



United States 10 5 4 



Zaire 5 7 



Rhodesia 4 7 3 



Kenya and Uganda <1 8 



Australia 4 2 5 



Malagasy Republic 2 3 



Portugal 2 <1 



Other 1 <1 <1 



Total tons beryl 



(rounded) 32,000 98,000 161,000 



major exporter. One evident feature is the decreas- 

 ing portion mined within the United States. 



FUTURE CONSUMPTION 



The history of beryllium use has been one of 

 diversification. The metal has gone into many end 

 products, no one of which has been a very large 

 part of the total. The rate of growth, therefore, has 

 been rather steady for many years, following an 

 exponential curve; the major fluctuations result 

 from sporadic government programs in armaments, 

 nuclear energy, and space. The assured supply of 

 raw material from Spor Mountain, Utah, doubtless 

 will encourage the development of additional uses 

 by potential consumers who lack confidence in a 

 dependable supply of imported beryl ore. It is likely, 

 even, that this new source of ore will stimulate uses 

 sufficiently to bolster the market for beryl. Con- 

 sumption may well increase threefold or fourfold 

 by the year 2000, with the use in that year of 

 3,000-4,000 tons of beryllium in all forms. About 

 4,500 tons of metal would then have been used of 

 our total known domestic resources of about 60,000 

 tons. Perhaps the use in light alloys — with alumi- 

 num and magnesium — will increase more than other 

 uses. 



EXTRACTIVE METHODS 



To extract beryllium, beryl ore is heated, with or 

 without fluxes, and then is leached to give an aque- 



ous solution of beryllium fluoride or sulfate. In the 

 United States, Kawecki-Berylco Industries sinter 

 finely pulverized beryl with fluorides and sodium 

 carbonate, then leach the sintered material with 

 water to obtain a beryllium-fluoride solution from 

 which beryllium hydroxide is precipitated. Brush- 

 Wellman Co., in an alternate process, fuses lump 

 beryl ore, quenches the melt, and leaches the beryl- 

 lium with sulfuric acid. Ore can also be mixed with 

 a carbonate flux, fused, then leached with sulfuric 

 acid. The nonberyl ore from Spor Mountain, Utah, 

 yields its beryllium upon leaching with sulfuric acid 

 with no pretreatment. All these procedures can 

 extract more than 90 percent of the beryllium in 

 the ore. 



The different extraction methods are not equally 

 applicable to all types of ore, and therefore are of 

 significance in assessing the resource potential of 

 various beryllium-rich materials. The fuse-quench 

 method is well adapted to coarse beryl ore, but not 

 to low-grade ore, nonberyl ore, or to fine-grained 

 concentrates. The fluoride-sintering method requires 

 fine grinding of ore and can readily handle flotation 

 concentrates, even if the beryllium is contained in 

 minerals other than beryl. Apatite and fluorite, 

 which commonly accompany beryl in pegmatitic and 

 hydrothermal deposits, respectively, reduce the ex- 

 tractability of beryllium by the fluoride method but 

 not by carbonate fusion-sulfuric acid leach meth- 

 ods; these methods may therefore come into use 

 despite their comparatively high reagent costs. 



The novel extractive procedure developed for use 

 with the ores of Spor Mountain, Utah, may be the 

 precursor of markedly modified or new technologies 

 for use on other nonpegmatitic ores. 



GEOLOGIC ENVIRONMENT 



GEOCHEMISTRY 



Beryllium has one stable isotope. Be', which is 

 the only one involved in industrial use and in most 

 geochemical and geological processes. Three unstable 

 isotopes. Be", Be^, and Be^°, are produced by cosmic- 

 ray interaction with the upper atmosphere. 



The beryllium content of the earth's crust is esti- 

 mated to be 2-3.5 ppm (parts per miUion). All but 

 a very small percentage of this metal is contained 

 in the common rock-forming minerals and not in 

 beryllium-rich minerals. This dispersal is caused by 

 its ability to replace silicon — its ionic radius (0.31 

 A) is near that of the silicon ion (0.41 A). How- 

 ever, because of the difference in charge (+2 in- 

 stead of -|-4), the difference in size, and the greater 

 tendency of beryllium to form covalent bonds, the 



