US Beryllium Supply On The Pentagon’s Radar

The United States Department of Defense and a special Pentagon board have published a report calling high-purity beryllium a “critical material” for national security and warning that domestic sources of supply should be ensured, International Beryllium (IB-V, IBRYF-O) says.

The Pentagon has used beryllium for decades in a variety of applications, including missiles, aircraft brakes and helicopter components.

“Beryllium is essential for important defence systems and unique in the function it performs,” International Beryllium quoted the government report as saying. “In addition, domestic production capabilities have atrophied, and there are no reliable foreign suppliers. Accordingly, the department should continue to take those special actions necessary to maintain a long-term domestic supply of high-purity beryllium.”

International Beryllium argues the report underscores the importance of its properties in Colorado and Utah and its historically productive Boomer mine.

“The Pentagon report completely validates our strategy of North American mineral asset acquisition, which is also being driven by the potential for beryllium containing nuclear fuels and the demand from military, industrial and other markets where the light weight and other qualities of beryllium are so important,” Anthony Dutton, president and chief executive of International Beryllium, explained in a statement.

Beryllium and related alloys are used in specialized industrial applications such as nuclear power, oil and gas, defence, electronics and the automotive industry.

International Beryllium has been on an acquisitions tear of late. In February, it announced it had signed a letter of intent to buy a U. S. company that manufactures and processes master and casting alloy products, including beryllium copper, in a non-arm’s length transaction. The company acquired U. S.- based Nonferrous Products and Freedom Alloys last year.

International Beryllium’s mineral properties in the U. S. include Spor Mountain in Juab Cty., Utah, and the past-producing Boomer mine in the Lake George area of Colorado.

The company has staked 371 mineral claims near Spor Mountain. In the 1960s, studies by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and by the U. S. Bureau of Mines confirmed the extent and grades of the beryllium deposits in the area and their chemical, mineralogical, and physical properties, International Beryllium says.

The beryllium deposits discovered at Spor Mountain in December 1959 “have been the major source of this metal in the Western world for more than forty years,” the company asserts on its website. The company’s claims “are on extensions of the geologic structures initially described by USGS geologists and that are presently being mined.”

Spor Mountain is adjacent to the world’s biggest beryllium mine operated by Brush Wellman, a subsidiary of Brush Engineered Metals (BW-N).

International Beryllium’s Boomer mine, meanwhile, lies within the Lake George area, a beryllium-producing region of Park Cty., Colo.

Between 1948 and 1963, the Boomer mine was the second-largest producing beryllium mine in the U. S. and the largest beryllium ore producer in 1958, the company says. (Mining came to a halt in the early 1970s due to a legal dispute between the partners.)

International Beryllium has staked 517 mining claims on adjacent lands to expand its Colorado interests in the Lake George district. The staked area covers about 43.2 sq. km and includes former beryllium- producing areas such as Badger Flats, China Wall and Redskin Gulch.

At presstime, International Beryllium was trading at 18.5¢ per share. The Vancouver-based junior has a 52-week trading window of 9.5-98¢ per share and has 50.3 million shares outstanding.