Turning the crystal in the sunlight, the plant manager stared for a moment before throwing it back onto the mound where it disappeared amid a clatter of sliding stone. "I'm no geologist, so if you ask me, that stuff looks just like regular old rock," he said.
In reality, the heap of stony rubble represented a tiny portion of the nation's strategic reserve of beryllium ore.
Beryllium is a rare metal used in a wide range of high-tech applications. Its light weight, stiffness and ability to withstand vibrations and rapidly dissipate heat make it ideal for uses that include the internal components of cell phones and computers, targeting systems for tanks and jet fighters, and the mirrors of space telescopes.
With the exception of a small amount of ore purchased internationally years ago as part of the country's strategic reserve program - the United States also maintains a stockpile of beryllium ingots - the bulk of the Western world's beryllium ore comes from a mine in Juab County.
And all of the ore eventually winds up at the Brush Resources plant, 12 miles west of Delta. There it gets milled and refined into a beryllium hydroxide feedstock used to produce beryllium ingots, alloys and beryllia ceramics, which are used in laser tubes and other electronics applications.
The Delta area has been at the heart of beryllium production since Brush Engineered Materials, then known as Brush Wellman, opened its mine in 1967 and established its mill two years later, said Alex Boulton, president of Brush Resources.
"Depending on demand, the mine has 70 years or more of proven [ore] reserves," Boulton said, noting that unlike the rocky ore from the national stockpile, the Utah mine produces an ore that more closely resembles kitty litter. "It really is an incredible resource."
Moreover, Utah's reputation as the beryllium capital of the Western Hemisphere soon may grow and take on an added dimension.
The Cleveland-based Brush Engineered Materials in early December said it received a $9 million award from the U.S. Department of Defense to help it engineer and design a new plant for the production of refined beryllium metal. And that plant, which could cost as much as $60 million to build, will be constructed in either Delta or in Elmore, Ohio, about 100 miles west of the company's corporate headquarters.
The proposed facility, which would employ approximately 25 people, will replace an obsolete primary beryllium operation in Elmore that was closed five years ago, said Brush Engineered Materials spokesman Patrick Carpenter.
"Right now we use the production from Delta to make our beryllium alloys and ceramics," Carpenter said. "But since 2000 we've been meeting almost all of our metallic beryllium needs by purchasing ingots from the National Defense Stockpile."
A Department of Defense report to Congress last year forecast the domestic stockpile of refined beryllium will be depleted between 2008 and 2011, or about the time Brush Engineered Materials expects to bring the new plant online.
Boulton said both locations - Delta or Elmore, Ohio - have their advantages. "It is sixes either way."
In Elmore, the infrastructure already is in place should the company want to build there. But putting the plant in Delta would fit in well with the existing feedstock production.
If Brush decides to place the plant in Utah it would be a boon for Delta, which has a population of approximately 3,100. "It would bring us more stable employment and increase our tax base," Delta Mayor Gayle Bunker said. "And in my mind, placing the plant here seem more logical, since this is where the mine is located."
In an effort to help convince the company to build another plant in Utah, the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board two weeks ago approved $700,000 in tax incentives over a 10 year-period for the company. The plant is expected to increase state tax revenue by as much as $2.3 million over the same 10 years.
The incentive award was based on the company providing 25 new jobs that pay 200 percent of Juab County's median annual salary of $18,600. Brush Resources already employs 68 people at its plant outside of Delta.
The company is expected to make a decision early this year, Boulton said.
There are only a few beryllium mines throughout the world. "It is a difficult metal to find in any quantity," said Ken Krahulec, a minerals geologist with the Utah Geological Survey.
Although it is found in a variety of mineral forms, most are difficult to deal with when it comes to extracting the metal. "In Utah, though, the beryllium is tied up in what is known as a bertrandite ore, which is the easiest to deal with. And Utah just happens to have the largest deposit of that kind in the world."
