As we all know, my country has a huge dominant position in the field of rare earths. Whether it is reserves or production, it is the world’s No. 1, providing 90% of rare earth products to the world. The metal resource that I want to introduce to you today is a high-precision material in the field of aerospace and military industry, but the world’s largest output and reserves are occupied by the United States, and my country’s domestic output cannot meet the demand, so it needs to be imported from abroad. So, what kind of metal resource is it? This is the beryllium mine known as “sleeping in beryl”.

Beryllium is a grayish-white non-ferrous metal that was discovered from beryl. Previously, the composition of beryl (beryllium aluminum silicate) was generally considered to be aluminum silicate. But in 1798, French chemist Walkerland found through analysis that beryl also contained an unknown element, and this unknown element was beryllium.

In recent years, my country has made continuous breakthroughs in the “artificial sun” project, which has also brought this little-known metal element to the public eye. We all know that the temperature of the plasma generated by the thermonuclear fusion of the “artificial sun” exceeds 100 million degrees Celsius. Even if these high-temperature ions are suspended and do not come into contact with the inner wall of the reaction chamber, the inner wall is required to withstand extremely high temperatures.

The “first wall of the artificial sun” independently developed by Chinese scientists, which directly faces the inner wall of the high-temperature fusion material, is made of specially treated high-purity beryllium, which has an extraordinary heat insulation effect and Thermonuclear fusion experiments build a “firewall”. Due to the good nuclear properties of beryllium, it also plays many important roles in the nuclear power industry, such as serving as a “neutron moderator” for nuclear reactors to ensure normal nuclear fission; using beryllium oxide to make neutron reflectors, etc.

In fact, beryllium is not only “reused” in the nuclear industry, but also a high-precision material in the aerospace and military industry. You know, beryllium is one of the lightest rare metals, with a series of excellent properties, such as low density, high melting point, good thermal conductivity, good reflectivity to infrared light, etc. These excellent properties make it widely used in aerospace and military industries. a wide range of applications.

Take spacecraft as an example, the index of “reducing weight” is extremely demanding. As a light metal, beryllium is less dense than aluminum and stronger than steel. It is widely used in the manufacture of base frames and beams for artificial satellites and spacecraft. Columns and fixed trusses, etc. It is understood that a large aircraft also has thousands of parts made of beryllium alloy. In addition, beryllium metal is also used in the manufacture of inertial navigation systems and optical systems. In short, beryllium has become an indispensable and valuable material for many high-tech products.

In the supply of this important metal resource, the United States has a huge advantage. From the perspective of reserves, according to data released by the US Geological Survey, as of 2016, the global reserves of beryllium were 100,000 tons, of which the United States had 60,000 tons, accounting for 60% of the global reserves. In terms of production, the United States is still the world’s largest. In 2019, the global beryllium production was 260 tons, of which the United States produced 170 tons, accounting for about 65% of the world’s total.

Our country’s output is just a fraction of that of the United States, at 70 tons, which is not enough for our own use. With the rapid development of my country’s aerospace, nuclear power and electronic appliances and other industries, the consumption of beryllium has also increased significantly. For example, in 2019, my country’s demand for beryllium reached 81.8 tons, an increase of 23.4 tons over the previous year.

Therefore, local production cannot meet the demand, and it has to rely on imports. Among them, in 2019, my country imported 11.8 tons of unwrought beryllium, with a total amount of 8.6836 million US dollars. It is precisely because of the scarcity of beryllium that my country’s beryllium resources are currently preferentially supplied to the military and aerospace fields.

You may think that since the output of beryllium in the United States is so high, it should be exported to China and other markets in large quantities. In fact, as the most developed country in the world, the United States has long established a complete industrial system for beryllium ore mining, extraction and smelting to beryllium metal and alloy processing. The beryllium ore it mines will not be exported directly like other resource-based countries.

The United States even needs to import from Kazakhstan, Japan, Brazil and other countries, through further processing into semi-finished or refined products, part of which will be used by itself, and the rest will be exported to developed countries to make a lot of money. Among them, the American company Materion has a great say in the beryllium industry. It is the only manufacturer in the world that can produce all beryllium products. Its products not only meet the domestic demand in the United States, but also supply the entire western countries.

Of course, we don’t need to worry about being “stuck” by the United States in the beryllium industry. You know, China and Russia are also countries with a complete beryllium industrial system in addition to the United States, but the current technology is still slightly inferior to that of the United States. And from the perspective of reserves, although China’s beryllium resources are not as large as those of the United States, they are still rich. In 2015, my country’s announced basic reserves of beryllium resources reached 39,000 tons, ranking second in the world. However, my country’s beryllium ore is of low grade and relatively high mining cost, so the output cannot keep up with the demand, and some of it is imported from abroad.

At present, the Northwest Institute of Rare Metal Materials is the only beryllium research and processing base in my country, with domestic leading R&D technology and production capacity. It is believed that with the continuous breakthrough of its technology, my country’s beryllium industry will gradually catch up with the world’s advanced level.