California Borate Company property, Kramer Borate deposit, Boron, Kern County, California, USAi
Regional Level Types | |
---|---|
California Borate Company property | Property |
Kramer Borate deposit | Deposit |
Boron | Town |
Kern County | County |
California | State |
USA | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
35° 2' 3'' North , 117° 40' 32'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
KΓΆppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
Place | Population | Distance |
---|---|---|
Boron | 2,253 (2011) | 4.5km |
North Edwards | 1,058 (2011) | 14.5km |
Edwards Air Force Base | 2,063 (2013) | 27.1km |
California City | 13,277 (2017) | 30.0km |
Johannesburg | 172 (2011) | 37.8km |
Mindat Locality ID:
212304
Long-form identifier:
mindat:1:2:212304:5
GUID (UUID V4):
99103af4-5aaa-42eb-a453-0253f97eaa5b
Other/historical names associated with this locality:
Western Borax Mine; Western Mine
A B (borate) deposit/mine located in sec. 23, T11N, R8W, SBM, 4.6 km (2.86 mi) NNW of Boron.
Rock Currier (2014):
I'm not sure what this mine should be called now because it doesn't exist any more except for perhaps some water filled backfilled stopes some hundreds of feet deep slightly to the south of the big open pit borate mine at Boron, California.
Here is what Joe Siefke, a retired mine geologist who worked for US Borax Co. at Boron says about it (2014):
To my knowledge, no gerstleyite was ever found in the pit (The big open pit mine at Boron).
The Western mine was owned by Mudd, Mudd, Mudd, & Dub, otherwise known as the Kern County Land Co. (early owners of the Thompson mine in Furnace Creek). The Western passed into the hands of American Potash and thence onto Kerr McGee. (US) Borax bought the Western about 30 years ago from Kerr McGee for $10mm, but literally had to get an act of Congress passed to overcome the antitrust consent decree.
The Western shaft was demolished nearly 20 years ago. The pit south rim is now 1/4 mile south of the shaft site. The Western was virtually mined out by 1950 with sand stope filling to maximize recovery. The Western property boundary was a nuisance to Borax; Borax needed the property because 40mm tons of its own reserves were lost if they couldn't be mined by open pit with the pit walls on Western property. Two-thirds of the ores remaining at Boron are kernite, located in the deep southeastern portion of the deposit (stripping ratio ~30:1!). Borax is spending north of $150mm to do process plant construction for the direct feed of kernite to the primary (hot water) process plants.
I drilled several core holes within the Western ore block in attempts to get complete lake bed & ore intercepts by targeting the underground pillars. We missed the pillars in a couple of holes, but still brought up sodium borate mush in the core barrel from what was a kernite ore stope. We concluded that because the workings were flooded from more than 50 years previous, the openings had swollen shut due to hydrating kernite (the Western shafts had static water levels at 300' below surface at the time & the workings were at 800' depth).
Operations at Boron are now known as Rio Tinto Minerals. Boron essentially abandoned separating the calcium borates nearly 20 years ago when they converted to bigger equipment and from 25' to 50' mining faces. Previous Ca stockpiles ran about 11% B2O3. Current stockpiling attempts apparently run about 5%, hopelessly short of any economic separation. The earlier stockpiles contain, I believe, about 30mm tons of Ca borates, not enough to warrant the expensive processing.
Twenty years ago, Borax produced perhaps 60% of the world's borate products; Today that production may be about 30%. At last count, the Turkish deposit at Kirka contained in excess of 600,000,000 tons of borax, more than 3x the size of the original deposit at Boron. Needless to say, Turkey will control the future of borates. By the way, Bigadic is calcium borates.
The Western mine was owned by Mudd, Mudd, Mudd, & Dub, otherwise known as the Kern County Land Co. (early owners of the Thompson mine in Furnace Creek). The Western passed into the hands of American Potash and thence onto Kerr McGee. (US) Borax bought the Western about 30 years ago from Kerr McGee for $10mm, but literally had to get an act of Congress passed to overcome the antitrust consent decree.
The Western shaft was demolished nearly 20 years ago. The pit south rim is now 1/4 mile south of the shaft site. The Western was virtually mined out by 1950 with sand stope filling to maximize recovery. The Western property boundary was a nuisance to Borax; Borax needed the property because 40mm tons of its own reserves were lost if they couldn't be mined by open pit with the pit walls on Western property. Two-thirds of the ores remaining at Boron are kernite, located in the deep southeastern portion of the deposit (stripping ratio ~30:1!). Borax is spending north of $150mm to do process plant construction for the direct feed of kernite to the primary (hot water) process plants.
I drilled several core holes within the Western ore block in attempts to get complete lake bed & ore intercepts by targeting the underground pillars. We missed the pillars in a couple of holes, but still brought up sodium borate mush in the core barrel from what was a kernite ore stope. We concluded that because the workings were flooded from more than 50 years previous, the openings had swollen shut due to hydrating kernite (the Western shafts had static water levels at 300' below surface at the time & the workings were at 800' depth).
Operations at Boron are now known as Rio Tinto Minerals. Boron essentially abandoned separating the calcium borates nearly 20 years ago when they converted to bigger equipment and from 25' to 50' mining faces. Previous Ca stockpiles ran about 11% B2O3. Current stockpiling attempts apparently run about 5%, hopelessly short of any economic separation. The earlier stockpiles contain, I believe, about 30mm tons of Ca borates, not enough to warrant the expensive processing.
Twenty years ago, Borax produced perhaps 60% of the world's borate products; Today that production may be about 30%. At last count, the Turkish deposit at Kirka contained in excess of 600,000,000 tons of borax, more than 3x the size of the original deposit at Boron. Needless to say, Turkey will control the future of borates. By the way, Bigadic is calcium borates.
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
11 valid minerals.
Detailed Mineral List:
β Berthierite Formula: FeSb2S4 Description: Parallel intergrowths with probertite. |
β Copiapite Formula: Fe2+Fe3+4(SO4)6(OH)2 · 20H2O References: |
β Gerstleyite Formula: Na2(Sb,As)8S13 · 2H2O |
β Howlite Formula: Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5 Description: Occurs as a small nodular mass on the 955 level. |
β Mirabilite Formula: Na2SO4 · 10H2O Colour: White Description: Occurs as coatings. References: |
β Natrojarosite Formula: NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 Colour: Yellow to orange Description: Occurs as efflorescences on shales. |
β Probertite Formula: NaCa[B5O7(OH)4] · 3H2O Description: Parallel intergrowths with Berthierite. References: |
β Sassolite Formula: H3BO3 Colour: Colourless; pearly-white Description: Thin, small flakes as crystals in siltstone. References: |
β Searlesite Formula: Na(H2BSi2O7) References: |
β ThΓ©nardite Formula: Na2SO4 References: |
β Tincalconite Formula: Na2(B4O7) · 5H2O References: |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts | |||
---|---|---|---|
β | Berthierite | 2.HA.20 | FeSb2S4 |
β | Gerstleyite | 2.HE.05 | Na2(Sb,As)8S13 Β· 2H2O |
Group 6 - Borates | |||
β | Sassolite | 6.AA.05 | H3BO3 |
β | Howlite | 6.CB.20 | Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5 |
β | Tincalconite | 6.DA.15 | Na2(B4O7) Β· 5H2O |
β | Probertite | 6.EB.15 | NaCa[B5O7(OH)4] Β· 3H2O |
Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates | |||
β | ThΓ©nardite | 7.AD.25 | Na2SO4 |
β | Natrojarosite | 7.BC.10 | NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 |
β | Mirabilite | 7.CD.10 | Na2SO4 Β· 10H2O |
β | Copiapite | 7.DB.35 | Fe2+Fe3+4(SO4)6(OH)2 Β· 20H2O |
Group 9 - Silicates | |||
β | Searlesite | 9.EF.15 | Na(H2BSi2O7) |
List of minerals for each chemical element
H | Hydrogen | |
---|---|---|
H | β Copiapite | Fe2+Fe43+(SO4)6(OH)2 · 20H2O |
H | β Gerstleyite | Na2(Sb,As)8S13 · 2H2O |
H | β Howlite | Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5 |
H | β Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
H | β Natrojarosite | NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 |
H | β Probertite | NaCa[B5O7(OH)4] · 3H2O |
H | β Sassolite | H3BO3 |
H | β Searlesite | Na(H2BSi2O7) |
H | β Tincalconite | Na2(B4O7) · 5H2O |
B | Boron | |
B | β Howlite | Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5 |
B | β Probertite | NaCa[B5O7(OH)4] · 3H2O |
B | β Sassolite | H3BO3 |
B | β Searlesite | Na(H2BSi2O7) |
B | β Tincalconite | Na2(B4O7) · 5H2O |
O | Oxygen | |
O | β Copiapite | Fe2+Fe43+(SO4)6(OH)2 · 20H2O |
O | β Gerstleyite | Na2(Sb,As)8S13 · 2H2O |
O | β Howlite | Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5 |
O | β Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
O | β Natrojarosite | NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 |
O | β Probertite | NaCa[B5O7(OH)4] · 3H2O |
O | β Sassolite | H3BO3 |
O | β Searlesite | Na(H2BSi2O7) |
O | β ThΓ©nardite | Na2SO4 |
O | β Tincalconite | Na2(B4O7) · 5H2O |
Na | Sodium | |
Na | β Gerstleyite | Na2(Sb,As)8S13 · 2H2O |
Na | β Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
Na | β Natrojarosite | NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 |
Na | β Probertite | NaCa[B5O7(OH)4] · 3H2O |
Na | β Searlesite | Na(H2BSi2O7) |
Na | β ThΓ©nardite | Na2SO4 |
Na | β Tincalconite | Na2(B4O7) · 5H2O |
Si | Silicon | |
Si | β Howlite | Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5 |
Si | β Searlesite | Na(H2BSi2O7) |
S | Sulfur | |
S | β Berthierite | FeSb2S4 |
S | β Copiapite | Fe2+Fe43+(SO4)6(OH)2 · 20H2O |
S | β Gerstleyite | Na2(Sb,As)8S13 · 2H2O |
S | β Mirabilite | Na2SO4 · 10H2O |
S | β Natrojarosite | NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 |
S | β ThΓ©nardite | Na2SO4 |
Ca | Calcium | |
Ca | β Howlite | Ca2B5SiO9(OH)5 |
Ca | β Probertite | NaCa[B5O7(OH)4] · 3H2O |
Fe | Iron | |
Fe | β Berthierite | FeSb2S4 |
Fe | β Copiapite | Fe2+Fe43+(SO4)6(OH)2 · 20H2O |
Fe | β Natrojarosite | NaFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 |
As | Arsenic | |
As | β Gerstleyite | Na2(Sb,As)8S13 · 2H2O |
Sb | Antimony | |
Sb | β Berthierite | FeSb2S4 |
Sb | β Gerstleyite | Na2(Sb,As)8S13 · 2H2O |
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
North America PlateTectonic Plate
- Basin and Range BasinsBasin
- Mojave DomainDomain
USA
- California
- Kern County
- Kramer Borate Mining DistrictMining District
- Kern County
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