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there's a lot to consider when you're

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designing mirrors for a space telescope

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they need to be lightweight sturdy and

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not change shape so much just because

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it's a little cold like 400 degrees

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below zero glass won't do the trick like

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it does here on earth but beryllium will

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so where do you find this rare metal

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hey so rob where are we going

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we're headed to our current active open

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pit berlin mine this mine is is the only

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mine

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like this in the entire world

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so these are the only beryllium miners

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that you'll find we are currently

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standing on

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the edge of our active pit

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where

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the hard rock is being excavated that

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covers the

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brilliant more so why is beryllium so

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valuable it is

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very strong and very light it's a third

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the weight of aluminum

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and has a six times the stiffness of

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steel 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

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to

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design and develop this mine

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and once the ore leaves this mine is it

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ready for the folks at the james webb

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space telescope program to use it to

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build the mirrors

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no after the ore material leaves the

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mine it is shipped to the processing

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plant about 50 miles east of here oh

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great well thank you so much for

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welcoming us and letting us see your

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berlin mine you're very welcome so phil

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we just came from the beryllium mine and

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rob told us that you guys take the ore

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that they over there dig up

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yes that's right but yours hauled

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in and putting up in these pockets here

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and then we crush that ore and mix it

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with water to start the process all

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right so phil we just came from the ore

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and you said they crush it and then what

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well this is the ore

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what 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 the

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beryllium in the water

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and

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the bottom has most of the brilliant

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leeched out of it

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what's happening here is that the

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slurry from the leaching area is brought

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out here through a pipeline

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and it goes into this well where it's

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mixed with a flocculant what's a

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flocculent it ties up the fine particles

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with a big particle so they will settle

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to the bottom okay and then the

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clear overflow becomes the solution that

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we process to get the beryllium out of

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this is the solution that we just came

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from those big tanks out there and

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that'll be filtered to remove those fine

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particles and then we mix that solution

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with the organic layer

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and the beryllium goes into the organic

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layer and most of the impurities stay in

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the water layer now you said organic

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layer what what does that mean to the

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rest of us 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

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the vinegar would be the water solution

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and we have a special extraction in the

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oil layer okay so it flows to the top

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and we can concentrate and purify the

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beryllium

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still a liquid here

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what then happens we purify it and

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precipitate it into a powder which we

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then package beryllium dust is not

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exactly the best thing to be near but

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can we see something that resembles a

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powder yes i have some

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sodium carbonate

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right here which is very similar to the

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texture

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and the fluffiness of our powder if it

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was dry it looks kind of like a talcum

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powder really but very much so

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these are the drums that we have our

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material in ready for shipment and you

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said shipment where are they going to go

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to next these will probably go to elmore

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ohio elmore ohio has what delmar ohio is

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the plant brush almanol and converts it

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into finished goods so it's going to

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come out looking like a metal yes it'll

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come out as a metal an alloy or an oxide

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well thanks so much for showing us your

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plant you're certainly welcome well you

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can find beryllium mixed with metals in

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everyday life like computers cell phones

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and even your car

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you can only find pure beryllium in

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specialized items like x-ray machines

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space satellites and

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now the james webb space telescope