West Mojave Plan FEIR/S - Desert Managers Group

deposition occurred. Brines are pumped from the playa lakebed to the plants where desiredminerals are removed, then the brine is returned to the lakebed. Annual production from themine is about 1,400,000 tons of soda ash, 130,000 tons of borates, 43,000 tons of boric acid,220,000 tons of sodium sulfate and 42,000 tons of salt. These products are used for glass,detergents, water treatment, petroleum refining, circuit boards, ceramics, insulation and papermanufacturing.Production of borax and other sodium minerals in the California desert is of national andlocal significance. About 97 percent of the United States production and 43 percent of the worldproduction of borax comes from Searles Lake at Trona, and U.S. Borax at Boron. The CaliforniaDesert produces over $500 million worth of borate minerals per year (Kohler, 2002, p. 49). Themine at Searles Lake has over 700 employees with additional contractors, consultants andservices. It is the largest employer in Trona and the second largest employer for Ridgecrest. TheFederal sodium and potassium mineral leases generate over $3 million Federal mineral royaltieseach year, half of which go into the Federal general treasury and half of which are returned to theState of California for the direct benefit of local public education.Another significant find was the borax deposit at Boron, in Kern County, discoveredaccidentally in a water well drilled in 1926, and mined continuously since 1927. The U. S.Borax Company mines approximately 9,000 tons of ore daily (Siefke, 1991, p. 6.) and 1,100 menand women are employed at the Boron facility (Lyday, 2001, p. 13.2). Borates have many usesincluding the manufacture of high quality glass, fiberglass and chemicals.The world’s largest hectorite mine occurs south of the Cady Mountains in the WestMojave Desert Planning Area. Hectorite is a specialty clay used in high quality paints,pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and personal care products.In the Calico Mountains, near Barstow, about $9 million worth of borate minerals wereproduced from 1884 to 1907. Over 15 million ounces of silver were mined from the CalicoMountains from 1881 to 1890.Gold: The western Mojave Desert has been an important source of gold production.Beginning in 1893, mineral production from the Randsburg district was nearly 1 million troyounces of gold and 18 million troy ounces of silver. In addition, more than one million short tonunits (10,000 tons) of tungsten trioxide were mined from the Atolia district form 1904 to the1950s. Gold production up to 1970 was over $20 million (Clark, 1970, p.167). Current goldproduction from the district is estimated to be 80,000 ounces per year. Between 1890 and 1942,185,000 troy ounces (5.8 metric tons) of gold was produced from the Dale District, which occursin both Riverside and San Bernardino Counties (Tosdal, et al., 1992).Up until 1938, Atolia was the principal source of tungsten ore annually in the state, andproduction amounted to over 8,000 metric tons of tungsten (Tosdal, et al., 1992, p. 49).Iron: Iron was produced from the Cave Mountain (Baxter) and Bessemer mines as wellas from numerous small deposits in San Bernardino County as early as 1930. The CaveMountain mine has been active for a number of years. California Portland Cement CompanyChapter 3 3-232