Borax1 - Kramer Borate deposit, Boron, Kern Co, California, USA

The Rio Tinto Boron Mine (formerly the U.S. Borax Boron Mine) in Boron, California is California's largest open-pit mine and the largest borax mine in the world, producing nearly half the world's

borates A borate is any of several boron oxyanions, negative ions consisting of boron and oxygen, such as orthoborate , metaborate , or tetraborate ; or any salt with such anions, such as sodium metaborate, and disodium tetraborate . The name also refe ...

. Ore reserves are sufficient for production through at least 2050. It is operated by the Borax division of the

Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian Multinational corporation, multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine ...

.Rio Tinto

History

The borax deposit here was discovered in 1913, by John K. Suckow, who when drilling for water found a deposit of what he believed to be gypsum. Further testing revealed it was the

colemanite Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite. It was first described in 18 ...

form of borax.

Francis Marion "Borax" Smith Francis Marion Smith (February 2, 1846 – August 27, 1931) (once known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King" ) was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisc ...

bought the claim for his Pacific Coast Borax Company. Mining at the site by shafts began in the 1920s.

Pacific Coast Borax The Pacific Coast Borax Company (PCB) was a United States mining company founded in 1890 by the American borax magnate Francis Smith, the "Borax King". History The roots of the Pacific Coast Borax Company lie in Mineral County, Nevada, east of ...

later became U.S. Borax, which subsequently opened the current open-pit mine in 1957. U.S. Borax was later acquired by

, which continues to operate the mine. A pilot project to produce lithium by sifting through mining waste began in 2019.

Borax Visitor Center

The mine's Borax Visitor Center, which includes a museum, historic mining artifacts, and a mine overlook, is open to the public.Borax Visitor Center
at Trip Advisor.

References

External links

Mindat.org Mindat.org is a non-commercial online database, claiming to be the largest mineral database and mineralogy, mineralogical reference website on the Internet. It is used by professional mineralogists, geologists, and amateur mineral collecting, mi ...

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Boron Mine, Kramer Borate Mining District (U.S. Borax open pit)
— ''history, geology, and minerals list/links''.
Borax Visitor CenterPlacesearth.com: gallery of Borax Visitor Center photos
{{Commonscat, position=left, Minerals of Boron Borax mines Companies based in Kern County, California Geography of Kern County, California Mines in California Mining museums in California Mojave Desert Museums in Kern County, California Open-pit mines Borax Mine Surface mines in the United States Tourist attractions in Kern County, California