After weeks of editing and tweaking, I have completed the first half (part 1) of the video on Beryllium. This section is on the uses and sources of beryllium, and the geology of the bertrandite deposit of western Utah. The second half will take another week or so (I have quite a few tight deadlines on client projects that must be completed right now) and will include the history of mining, current mining operations, refining, and hazards. Here is Part 1:
Beryllium Part 1
I am including here the script for the section on sources of beryllium:
Sources of Beryllium
Beryllium is the first member of the alkaline earth family of elements, which means that it’s highly reactive and easily bonds to form compounds but is difficult to separate into a pure metal. Beryllium was discovered by Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin in 1798 as a component of beryl and in emeralds. Friedrich Wöhler and Antoine Bussy independently isolated the metal in 1828 by reacting potassium with beryllium chloride. Beryllium’s chemical similarity to aluminum was probably why beryllium was missed in previous searches. We now know that beryllium is found in only a few minerals, including the beryl family and bertrandite.
Emerald necklace in the National Museum of Natural History
Beryl is a hexagonal crystal of beryllium aluminum cyclosilicate that can have various colors depending on impurities. Trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium give it a deep green color; when crystallized slowly into a transparent crystal, it is called emerald. Emeralds have been prized as gemstones for thousands of years; today, the main source of emeralds is Columbia in South America.
Heliodor and Aquamarine at the National Museum of Natural History
Trace amounts of iron (II) ions produce a blue-green variety of beryl called aquamarine. Small amounts of iron (III) ions produce shades of beryl from golden yellow to greenish yellow called heliodor. Manganese (II) impurities produce pink beryl called morganite. Completely pure beryl is colorless and is called goshenite.
Morganite and Heliodor
The rarest form of beryl is red beryl, mined only in the Wah Wah Mountains of southwestern Utah. It gets its color from traces of manganese (III) and is a deeper red than morganite. In addition to these gem varieties of beryl, there is non-gem beryl, which is opaque and considered semi-precious. It is chiefly mined in Brazil in the Minas Gerais District although some deposits exist in Colorado and New England as well; it is New Hampshire’s state mineral. A large specimen 5.5 meters by 1.2 meters was found in a quarry in Maine, and the largest crystal ever found is a beryl crystal from Madagascar that is 18 meters long and 3.5 meters in diameter.
Red Beryl and Emerald, from the collection of Keith and Mauna Proctor
Bertrandite, on the other hand, is a pinkish mineral consisting of hydrous beryllium oxide silicate that doesn’t form very large crystals. It tends to be found clinging to grains of igneous pegmatites such as granite. The bertrandite in the Spor Mountains of western Utah is found in highly altered rhyolite and is the only deposit large enough and concentrated enough to mine commercially. It is the sole source of beryllium for all of the United States.
Bertrandite and Beryl, on display at Brush Resources Delta Plant
Beryllium is also found in a few other rare minerals, such as chrysoberyl (beryllium aluminum oxide), phenakite (beryllium silicate), euclase (hydrous beryllium aluminum silicate), hambergite (hydrous beryllium borate), and beryllonite (sodium beryllium phosphate).
Phenakite, Euclase, Hambergite, and Beryllonite
The Elements Unearthed 