Boraxo Mine

USA / California / Furnace Creek /
 valley, mine
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From Mines and Mineral Deposits in Death Valley National Monument, California, 1976:

The Boraxo Mine is about 2 1/2 miles west and 1 miles southwest of the mining camp of Ryan. It is at an elevation of about 2400 feet just east of a small hill which rises above alluvial fan deposits shed off the northern flank of the Black Mountains.

History of the Boraxo mine begins in about 1915 when the Pacific Coast Borax Company filed the Clara lode claim. A discovery shaft sunk by Mr. Thompson led to the name -- Thompson mine. A mineral patent was applied for but, for an undetermined reason, was not granted. On the assumption the claim was patented, Pacific Coast Borax Company ceased annual assessment work. Two new mining claims were filed over the area in 1921 by Mssrs Russell, Monahagan, Barlow, and Hill. Subsequently these claims were patented as the Boraxo No. 1 and No. 2. A court battle over the issue was settled in favor of the new claimants, and Pacific Coast Borax Company bought the mine back in 1935. Kern County Land Company purchased the mine in 1960 for $200,000. Some underground development work was done, and a thousand or so tons of colemanite was produced during the early 1960s from the deposit, which later became known as the Boraxo deposit.

Kern County Land Company was purchased in 1967 by Tenneco Inc., with their mineral activities assigned to Tenneco Oil Company. The mine was reopened from the surface in January 1970. Excavation was from west to east in a sequence of three adjoining pits -- No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. After extensive drilling, it was decided to develop the deposit by mining from a new pit--the Boraxo at No. 3 extension. In early 1974 overburden removal for the new pit was begun by Tenneco Mining (incorporated from the minerals department of the Tenneco Oil Company). Removal was complete in late 1975. Drilling to insure that substrata beneath the mine dumps for the new pits was barren led to the discovery of a new deposit--the Inyo.

The Inyo mine had a problem. The salts found there existed near their eutectic or maximum solubility point. If water was used to control dust perhaps 10 tons of salts would dissolve for each ton of water used causing severe problems. I left the MSHA Tech Support group before a "solution" was found.
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Coordinates:   36°20'31"N   116°42'47"W
This article was last modified 13 years ago