Beryllium: There are nearly 20 Be-bearing minerals, but of these beryl is the principal commercial ore carrying a maximum of 14% BeO (5% Be). 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 (Huronian); the exact age of the pegmatite is, however, believed to be post-Delhi (Algonkian). Its frequent associates are albite, microcline, muscovite, and accessories containing Li, Nb, Ta, and other rare-earth metals. The more productive beryl deposits are found in Bihar, parts of Rajasthan and Madras. Here beryl occurs at the edges of the prominent quartz cores of pegmatites and in the felspathic rims surrounding them. Columnar beryl crystals 15 to 20 ft. long, 4 ft. across, and weighing over 20 tons have been mined. Green and blue are the commonest colors, but white, amber, rose, orange, brown, and even black beryl are known. Be 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 factory for manufacturing atomically pure Be and Beo is being planned. A large part of beryl mined in India is eluvial, or quarried from shallow pits. Underground mining of beryl as a side industry of the more highly remunerative mica mining is now responsible for major part of the output. The output from the mines rarely needs dressing or beneficiation treatment. For a mineral of such capricious distribution in nature, future supplies will depend on adoption of mining methods suited to its peculiar habitat and new techniques of prospecting. Ordinary drilling for so illusive a product in a host which is itself very patchy, does not answer, but geochemical tests with spectrographic and radioactive methods for probing surface rocks may bring to light potentialities of yet undiscovered beryl pegmatites. The reserves in India are yet substantial, but increasing cost of production may limit supplies. Fortunately, beryl mining is tied up with mica production, and, as long as India preserves its lead as the world's largest producer of mica, a moderate but steady supply can be counted upon. Zirconium: India possesses large reserves of zircon on, the principal ore, in extensive detrital littoral deposits on the W. and E. 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 considerably over 15 million tons is estimated. Baddeleyite and cyrtolite occur but are of no commercial importance, as also zircon excretions as primary constituents of some granitic and monzonitic rocks in Kerala and Madras. The production of zircon, fitfully varying from a few hundred to a few thousand tons, is from the nonmagnetic tails left in the processing of ilmenite and monazite beach sands at Travancore. The most frequent associates of zircon are ilmenite, arizonite, monazite, rutile, sillimanite, garnet, baddeleyite, cheralite, and thorite. Travancore zircon contains over 2.5% Hf as a constant ingredient.