Where does Beryllium come from?
– The USGS says that 79% of world production comes from a single mining area – Spor Mountain in Utah. In 2006, this mine produced about a hundred metric tons. China produced twenty tons, Mozambique six tons, and the rest of the world just one. It’s not clear to me whether or not the USGS is counting beryllium ore (which contains many other minerals) or just beryllium. Either way, not much beryllium is mined compared to many other metals (iron, copper, aluminum, lead, titanium, etc.). Beryllium is found in about thirty mineral compounds. Most industry-ready beryllium is made by reducing beryllium fluoride with magnesium at high temperatures, producing beryllium and magnesium floride. Known deposits of beryllium have been estimated at more than 80,000 tons, giving the world an 800 year supply at current depletion rates. Since demand isn’t very high, there are likely large amounts of beryllium we haven’t bothered to find. About 65% of these resources is in nonpegmatite deposits in the Uni
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