Domestic beryllium supply a critical issue for Pentagon

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 Corp. (IB-V) 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 defense 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, defense, electronics and the automotive industry.

International Beryllium’s mineral properties in the U.S. include Spor Mountain in Juab County, 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 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 writes on its website.

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 40 years,” the company asserts. “The IBC claims are on extensions of the geologic structures initially described by USGS geologists and that are presently being mined.”

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

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.)

IBC has staked 517 mining claims on adjacent lands to expand its Colorado interests in the Lake George district. The staked area covers about 10,680 acres and includes former beryllium producing areas such as Badger Flats, China Wall and Redskin Gulch.

At press-time International Beryllium was trading at 14¢ 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.