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There's a lot to consider when you're designing
mirrors for a space telescope.
They need to be lightweight, sturdy, and not change shape
so much just because it's a little cold,
like 400 degrees below zero.
Glass won't do the trick like it does here on Earth.
But beryllium will.
So where do you find this rare metal?
The west desert of Utah, of course.
So, Rob, where are we going?
We're headed to our current active open pit beryllium mine.
This mine is the only mine like this in the entire world.
So these are the only beryllium miners that you'll find.
We are currently standing on the edge of our active pit, where
the hard rock is being excavated that covers the beryllium ore.
So why is beryllium so valuable?
It is very strong and very light.
It's a third the weight of aluminum
and has a six times the stiffness of steel.
How tough is it to find beryllium?
It took us about 30 years to gather
all the data and information to design and develop this mine.
And once the ore leaves this mine,
is it ready for the folks at the James Webb Space Telescope
program to use it to build the mirrors?
No.
After the ore material leaves the mine,
it is shipped to the processing plant about 50 miles east
of here.
Well, great.
Well, thank you so much for welcoming us and letting
us see your beryllium mine.
You're very welcome.
So, Phil, we just came from the beryllium mine.
And Rob told us that you guys take the
or that they over there dig up.
Yes, that's right.
The ore is hauled and put up in these pockets here.
And then we crush that ore and mix it with water
to start the process.
All right, so, Phil, we just came from the ore.
And you said they crush it.
And then what?
Well, this is the ore that we get from the mine.
And then we crush to a very fine slurry.
And then after we leach it, we have
the beryllium in the water.
And the bottom has most of the beryllium leached out of it.
What's happening here is that the slurry
from the leaching area is brought out here
through a pipeline.
And it goes into this well, where
it's mixed with a flocculant.
What's a flocculant?
It ties up the fine particles with a big particle,
so they will settle to the bottom.
OK.
And then the overflow becomes the solution
that we process to get the beryllium out of it.
This is a solution that we just came from those big tanks
out there.
And that'll be filtered to remove those fine particles.
And then we mix that solution with the organic layer.
And the beryllium goes into the organic layer.
And most of the impurities stay in the water layer.
Now, you said organic layer.
What does that mean to the rest of us?
It's like oil and vinegar.
This is the oil in your oil and vinegar.
So you're putting oil in, or you're putting vinegar in?
Yes.
Both.
The vinegar would be the water solution.
And we have a special extractant in the oil layer.
OK.
So it flows to the top.
And we can concentrate and purify the beryllium.
It's still a liquid here.
What then happens?
We purify it and precipitate it into a powder, which we then
package.
Beryllium dust is not exactly the best thing to be near.
But can we see something that resembles a powder?
Yes, I have some sodium carbonate right here,
which is very similar to the texture and the fluffiness
of our powder if it was dry.
It looks kind of like a talcum powder really.
Very much so.
So these are the drums that we have our material in ready
for shipment.
And you said shipment.
Where are they going to go to next?
These will probably go to Elmore, Ohio.
Elmore, Ohio has what?
Elmore, Ohio is a plant.
Brush [INAUDIBLE] that converts it into finished goods.
So it's going to come out looking like a metal?
Yes, it'll come out as a metal, an alloy, or an oxide.
Well, thanks so much for showing us your plant.
You're certainly welcome.
While you can find beryllium mixed
with metals in everyday life, like computers, cell phones,
and even your car, you can only find pure beryllium
in specialized items, like X-ray machines, space satellites,
and now the James Webb Space Telescope.
Thanks for joining us for this edition of Behind the Webb.