In recent years, rare‑metal columbite‑beryllium mineralization was discovered in pegmatite veins in one of the northwestern regions of the USSR. The wall‑rock alterations studied by the author have prospecting significance. In the literature devoted to the description and genesis of rare‑metal pegmatites, the results of studies of near‑contact alteration of rocks hosting berylliferous and spodumene pegmatites have been published. In all these works, the genesis of pegmatites and the formation of near‑contact changes in the host rocks are explained from the position of A. E. Fersman, who assumes the existence of a specific pegmatite melt.