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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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There's a lot to consider
when you're designing

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mirrors for a space telescope.

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They need to be lightweight,
sturdy, and not change shape

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so much just because
it's a little cold,

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like 400 degrees below zero.

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Glass won't do the trick
like it does here on Earth.

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But beryllium will.

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So where do you find
this rare metal?

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The west desert of
Utah, of course.

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So, Rob, where are we going?

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We're headed to our current
active open pit beryllium mine.

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This mine is the only mine
like this in the entire world.

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So these are the only beryllium
miners that you'll find.

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We are currently standing on the
edge of our active pit, where

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the hard rock is being excavated
that covers the beryllium ore.

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So why is beryllium so valuable?

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It is very strong
and very light.

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It's a third the
weight of aluminum

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and has a six times
the stiffness of steel.

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How tough is it
to find beryllium?

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It took us about
30 years to gather

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all the data and information to
design and develop this mine.

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And once the ore
leaves this mine,

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is it ready for the folks at
the James Webb Space Telescope

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program to use it to
build the mirrors?

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No.

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After the ore material
leaves the mine,

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it is shipped to the processing
plant about 50 miles east

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of here.

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Well, great.

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Well, thank you so much for
welcoming us and letting

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us see your beryllium mine.

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You're very welcome.

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So, Phil, we just came
from the beryllium mine.

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And Rob told us that
you guys take the

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or that they over there dig up.

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Yes, that's right.

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The ore is hauled and put
up in these pockets here.

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And then we crush that
ore and mix it with water

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to start the process.

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All right, so, Phil, we
just came from the ore.

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And you said they crush it.

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And then what?

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Well, this is the ore
that we get from the mine.

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And then we crush to
a very fine slurry.

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And then after we
leach it, we have

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the beryllium in the water.

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And the bottom has most of the
beryllium leached out of it.

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What's happening here
is that the slurry

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from the leaching area
is brought out here

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through a pipeline.

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And it goes into
this well, where

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it's mixed with a flocculant.

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What's a flocculant?

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It ties up the fine particles
with a big particle,

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so they will settle
to the bottom.

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OK.

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And then the overflow
becomes the solution

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that we process to get
the beryllium out of it.

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This is a solution that we
just came from those big tanks

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out there.

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And that'll be filtered to
remove those fine particles.

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And then we mix that solution
with the organic layer.

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And the beryllium goes
into the organic layer.

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And most of the impurities
stay in the water layer.

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Now, you said organic layer.

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What does that mean
to the rest of us?

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It's like oil and vinegar.

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This is the oil in
your oil and vinegar.

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So you're putting oil in, or
you're putting vinegar in?

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Yes.

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Both.

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Both.

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The vinegar would be
the water solution.

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And we have a special
extractant in the oil layer.

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OK.

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So it flows to the top.

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And we can concentrate
and purify the beryllium.

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It's still a liquid here.

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What then happens?

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We purify it and precipitate
it into a powder, which we then

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package.

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Beryllium dust is not exactly
the best thing to be near.

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But can we see something
that resembles a powder?

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Yes, I have some sodium
carbonate right here,

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which is very similar to the
texture and the fluffiness

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of our powder if it was dry.

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It looks kind of like
a talcum powder really.

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Very much so.

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So these are the drums that
we have our material in ready

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for shipment.

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And you said shipment.

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Where are they
going to go to next?

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These will probably
go to Elmore, Ohio.

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Elmore, Ohio has what?

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Elmore, Ohio is a plant.

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Brush [INAUDIBLE] that converts
it into finished goods.

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So it's going to come
out looking like a metal?

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Yes, it'll come out as a
metal, an alloy, or an oxide.

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Well, thanks so much for
showing us your plant.

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You're certainly welcome.

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While you can find
beryllium mixed

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with metals in everyday life,
like computers, cell phones,

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and even your car, you can
only find pure beryllium

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in specialized items, like X-ray
machines, space satellites,

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and now the James
Webb Space Telescope.

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Thanks for joining us for this
edition of Behind the Webb.

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