Beryllium 
By Deborah A. Kramer1 
 
 
The United States continued to be the leading world producer of beryllium
ores and the leading producer and consumer of beryllium metal, alloys, and
oxide. However, weak demand in the electronics industry, especially for beryllium-copper
alloys, contributed to a decrease in domestic beryllium consumption. As a
result, U.S. mine production declined moderately, and world production fell
slightly. 
Beryl imports, mainly from Brazil, increased moderately from the low level
in 1984, and metal imports increased about 
150%. Exports of beryllium metal increased 
dramatically to over three times those of 
1984. 
Domestic Data Coverage.—Domestic production data for beryllium
are
developed by the Bureau of Mines from two separate, voluntary surveys of
U.S. operations. Typical of these surveys is the "Beryllium Mineral
Concentrate
and Beryllium Ore" survey. Of the 14 operations to which a survey request
was sent, 13 responded, representing 100% of the total mine shipments shown
in tables 1 and 5. 
 
Table 1..—Salient beryllium mineral statistics 
(Short tons of beryllium metal equivalent unless otherwise specified) 
 
1981 
1982 
1983 
1984 
1985 
United States: 
 
 
 
 
 
Beryllium-containing ores: 
Mineshipments                              
Imports for consumption, beryl1                   
Consumption,reported                         
Price, approximate, per short ton unit BeO, imported cobbed beryl at port
of exportation.               
Yearendstocks                               
293 
86 
326 
 
$94 
98 
218 
106 
215 
 
$121 
214 
267 
88 
280 
 
$126 
281 
241 
53 
360 
 
$88 
226 
230 
66 
316 
 
$87 
199 
world:Preduction1                                 
424 
360 
398 
P395 
e387 
eBet~ma~. ~Preliminary. 
on a beryllium metal equivalent of 4% in beryL 
 
 Legislation and Government Programs.—The General Services Adininistration
added 30 short tons of beryllium metal to the National Defense Stockpile
in 1985. At yearend, Government stocks were beryl, 17,987 tons; beryllium-copper
master alloy, 7,387 tons; and beryllium metal, 290 tons. The National Defense
Stockpile goals for these materials remained at 18,000 tons, 7,900 tons,
and 400 tons, respectively. 
On July 8, the President approved National Security Council (NSC) recommendations
for modernizing the strategic and critical materials stockpile. Under the
NSC proposal, the stockpile would be structured into two tiers. Tier I would
contain materials required by military, industrial, and 
essential civilian users during a military conflict that would not be available
from domestic or reliable foreign sources. Tier II would contain a supplemental
reserve of material already possessed by the Government. According to the
NSC guidelines, beryllium would be categorized in tier II, and the goal would
be 437 tons of beryllium metal equivalent. At yearend, this proposal was
under consideration by the Congress. The Department of Defense Authorization
Act, 1986 (Public Law 99-145), signed by the President on November 8, 1985,
stated that no action may be taken before October 1, 1986, to implement or
administer any reduction in a stockpile goal in effect on October 1 1984.

177