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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

OCCURRENCES OF BERYLLIUM AND ZIRCONIUM IN INDIA

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4261748
Indian beryl has a consistently high proportion of 11 to 13% BeO. Generally, the occurrence of beryl is confined to pegmatite dikes, of a highly capricious nature, in acid granites and gneisses of the Dharwar basement complex buronian); the exact age of the pegmatite is, however, believed to be post-Delhi (Algonkian). The more productive beryil deposits are found in Bihar, parts of Rajasthan and Madras. Here beryl occurs at the edges of the prominent quartz cores of pogmatites and in the feldspathic rim surrounding it. Columnar beryl crystals 15 to 20 ft ilong and 4 ft across weighing over 20 tons have been mined. The beryllium is of primary magmatic origin in these rocks. There is no evidence of hydrothermal origin, nor of its genesis from basic magmas. Production of beryl in India was insignificant before the war, but since 1949 the annual output has been in some years 2000 to 3000 tons. Since 1946 an embargo on export exists, the output being stockpiled. A large part of beryl mined in India is eluvail, or quarred from shallow pits. The reserves in India are substantial, but increasing cost of production may limit supplies. Beryl mining is tied up with mica production, and as long as India preserves its lead as the worild's largest producer of mica, a moderate but steady supply can be counted upon. India possesses large reserves of zircon, the principal ore (ZrO/sub 2/, 66%), in extensive detrital littoral deposits on the West and East coasts, associated with ilmenite and monazite. There are besides large placer deposits in some parts of Bihar. Zircon forms as much as 7% of these raw ilmenite beach sands and placers. A reserve of considerabily over 15 million tons is estimated. Baddeleyite (ZrO/ sub 2/, 88%) and cyrtolite occur but are of no commercial impontance. The production of zircon, varying from a few hundred to few thousand tons, is from the nonmagnetic tails left in the processing of ilmenite and monazite beach sands at Travancore. (auth)
Research Organization:
Dept. of Atomic Energy, India
NSA Number:
NSA-13-006645
OSTI ID:
4261748
Report Number(s):
A/CONF.15/P/1666
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English