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By T. Prof. Egleston

DURING the last winter we have been actively engaged in the School of Mines in search for boracic acid. This has been owing to the fact that Mr. M. W. Iles, assistant in the qualitative laboratory, has discovered a test for that substance which makes its discovery exceedingly simple instead of being, as previously, very difficult. It consists in powdering the mineral, calcining it, then moistening it with sulphuric acid, and heating on a platinum wire until the sulphuric acid is expelled. It is then moistened with glycerin and made to take fire. If boracic acid is present it infallibly gives a green flame. It is not at all surprising, under such circumstances, the test being so easy, that boracic acid has been found by the students in a great many cases where its presence was not previously suspected, and in some where its detection was previously too difficult to warrant looking for it. We were not prepared, however, for its discovery in Lake Superior iron ores, and were disposed at first to think that a mistake had been made. After, however, it had been frequently reported in these ores it was considered worth while

Jan 1, 1877

By George I. Smith

Jan 1, 1985

By Hoyt Gale

RECENT work on borate deposits near Kramer, in the extreme southeast corner of Kern County, California, is of special interest to those who are making a study of the mode of origin of the borate minerals colemanite and ulexite. A valuable clue to the mode of origin of colemanite in its present known deposits is given in a paper by W. F. Foshag1, of the United States National Museum. Colemanite is found in or near original deposits of ulexite, from which it is supposed to have been derived by a change in the rate of movement or the character of the ground water. Indications that an alteration of this sort had produced colemanite were first recognized by the writer' in specimens collected in the Kramer district in 1920, and sent to W. T. Schaller, at U. S. Geological Survey, for identification. The identity of the two borate minerals in these specimens was not at once determined, but the relations of the minerals as seen in the specimens afforded a manifest clue to the origin of the deposits. Similar specimens were obtained by the writer from deposits in death Valley soon after he had examined the deposits near Kramer. After studying the specimens submitted to him Dr. Schaller wrote as follows: "I have finally positively identified the boron minerals you sent me with your letter of Sept. 27. The `white fibrous mineral like ulexite' is ulexite; the harder nodules' in the clay are colemanite, apparently formed from the ulexite as a result of leaching, with recrystallization in place-a theory that Foshag is working on." The present paper is a report on the facts observed at. the deposits near Kramer, and some general observations on the geological relations noted, which, unfortunately, still form only a very incomplete record.

Jan 2, 1926

By James R. Piper

Jan 1, 1985

By Feridun A. Albayrak

Jan 1, 1985

By James M. Barker

The borate deposits of Death Valley, first exploited in 1882, were a major world source of boron-bearing products until shortly after very large deposits near Boron, California (Kramer) came on stream in 1926. Borate mining in Death Valley then became moribund, with most extant deposits held as reserves backing Kramer. Tenneco began borate operations following acquisition of claims in 1967 and is the only active borate producer inside Death Valley National Mon¬ument. Borate ores, confined to the lower Furnace Creek Formation (early to middle Pliocene), initially precipitated in a shallow lake fed by boron-rich volcanic hot springs associated with the Basin and Range province. Later diagenesis and remobilization plus regional folding, faulting, and erosion altered and complicated originally simple borate mineralogy and distribution. Dominant ore minerals are ulexite (NaCaB509.8H20), probertite (NaCaB509.5H20), and colemanite (Ca2B6011.5H20). Tenneco currently operates two open pits near Ryan, California. Mining is by bulldozer-pushed scrapers hauling waste and front-end loader/off-highway truck combinations for ore and waste haulage. Archeological, environmental, and aesthetic considerations influence both mine plans. Boraxo Pit, opened in 1970, has deep ore (stripping ratio 10 to 13:1) which occurs along a fault and as beds in shale on the hanging wall. Problems include pit wall instability (adverse bedding), non¬ripable calcareous shale (11,000 fps), and mixed ore separation. Sigma Pit, opened in 1975, has shallow (stripping ratio 1 to 1). low dipping, bedded ore in shale. Massive ulexite and "granular" un- cohesive colemanite present problems in mining and milling. Colemanite is crushed to -6 inches, washed, dried at 350°F, then calcined at 800°F with 100 tpd capacity. Crushed (-6 inch) ulexite or probertite is Raymond milled to customer specifications with a capacity of 1000 tpd.

Jan 1, 1976

By M. G. Stamatakis, C. Zagouroglou, C. Helvaci, J. Kanaris

"Abstract -Borate minerals, such as colemanite, ulexite and borax, have been reported in Tertiary continental basins of West Anatolia, Turkey, and Samos Island, Greece.Tuffaceous rocks interbedded with the borates are rich in authigenic silicate minerals such as zeolites, potassium feldspar and opal-CT, all of which have a genetic association with the borates. Chemical analyses of the tuffaceous rocks show variation in major elements due to the varying percentage of carbonaceous, detrital, and volcanic derived material.The volcanic activity in the vicinity of each particular lacustrine basin created ion-rich fluids from which a series of borates were precipitated under arid climate. Additionally, the saline-alkaline character of these fluids was responsible for the diagenesis of the silicic glass of the tuffaceous rocks, altering them to silicates and silica polymorphs."

Jan 1, 1993

By William E. Ford, Edward Salisbury Dana

The aluminate, ferrates, etc., allied chemically to the borates, have been already intro- duced among the oxides. They include the species of the Spinel Group, pp. 418-423, also Chrysoberyl, p. 423, etc. SUSSEXITE. In fibrous seams or veins. H. = 3. G. = 3.42. Luster silky to pearly. Color white with a tinge of pink or yellow. Translucent. Index, 1.59.

Jan 1, 1922

By S. J. Lefond

Most people, when Borates are mentioned, mentally visualize the famous twenty mule team (really eighteen mules and two horses), trudging across the Mojave Desert or "she burns green Rosie, we are rich." Actually, however, the first use of borax was prior to Babylonian times. Their emissaries had orders to bring borax Iron the Gobi desert for use as a flux by the Babylonian goldsmiths. The borate mineral imported for this is not known but probably was borax. The ancient Persians and Arabians knew about borax and the Arabic word "Baurach" appears in a two thousand year old manuscript. The Sanscrit word for borax was tincana which has been corrupted to tincal. The Chinese were using borax as a glaze in three-hundred B.C. Marco Polo brought the first borax, along with gunpowder and spaghetti, from Mongolia to Europe in the late 1300's. Borax from Tibet was imported to Europe for nearly 500 years. In 1772 boric acid (sassolite) was discovered around Tuscany, Italy as a precipitant from volcanic steam vents. Production of boric acid started there about 1815 and provided the sole competition to the borax from Tibet. Borate deposits in Turkey have been known and exploited on a small scale since the 13th century. It is only recently that the operations are being modernized and production increased. About 1836, borax minerals were found in Chile and Argentina with borax production starting in 1852 in Chile and in Argentina in 1886. During the latter half of the 19th Century, Chile was the principle world producer of borax.

Jan 1, 1980

By Lawrence V. Gagin

Jan 1, 1985

By Keith G. Papke

Jan 1, 1985

By George A. Connell

BORAX, a sodium borate and the principal sodium salt of boric acid, has been surrounded with romance and with a certain amount of mystery. Its early history is not entirely known but it has been contended that Marco Polo in his travels in the Orient introduced this material to the West during the Middle Ages. Without doubt its first source was from Central or Eastern Asia and perhaps from Tibet. The well-known fluxing properties of borax probably introduced its earliest use that of a soldering flux in the manufacture of jewelry. This use, as well as the remote location of most borate deposits, added greatly to the romance associated with the thought of borax. COMPOSITION The common element in all borates is boron but this element has never been discovered as such in any deposit, because of its great affinity for oxygen. Incidentally, this makes its manufacture extremely difficult and expensive. Elemental boron undoubtedly has many properties that make it quite valuable but the extreme cost involved in producing it from its oxidized form prevents its general use or manufacture. The common element in all borates is boron but this element has never been discovered as such in any deposit, because of its great affinity for oxygen. Incidentally, this makes its manufacture extremely difficult and expensive. Elemental boron undoubtedly has many properties that make it quite valuable but the extreme cost involved in producing it from its oxidized form prevents its general use or manufacture. The common element in all borates is boron but this element has never been discovered as such in any deposit, because of its great affinity for oxygen. Incidentally, this makes its manufacture extremely difficult and expensive. Elemental boron undoubtedly has many properties that make it quite valuable but the extreme cost involved in producing it from its oxidized form prevents its general use or manufacture of disodium tetraborate (Na2B4O7.10H2O), and, further, can be considered as the acid salt of monosodium metaborate. However, the term "acid salt" might imply that borax gives an acid reaction in solution, which is not true, since solutions of borax are decidedly alkaline, giving a pH of 9.2. Boric acid, also known as boracic acid, has the chemical formula H3BO3; it occurs in nature as the mineral sassolite. Sassolite has been

Jan 1, 1949

By Ward C. Smith

The industry of producing and processing boron compounds is called the borax industry because the chief product is borax, the decahydrate of disodium tetraborate. For the same reason, it is common to speak of borax mining. Reference to borate mining also is common, and while appropriate where it emphasizes the diversity of borate minerals that are mined in various countries, it is rather unsatisfactory where used in a general sense, because it seems to exclude the important production of borax from brine at Searles Lake, California, and of boric acid from steam vents in Tuscany, Italy. The terms "boron industry" and "boron mining" might seem more comprehensive, but are little used, and this is fortunate because they would be misleading-the element boron is manufactured only in small amounts for special uses, and it is not found free in nature. In most occurrences, boron is combined with oxygen and is in a borate or borosilicate material. The history of the modem borax industry starts with the introduction into Europe of borax from Tibet in the 13th century, about the time of Marco Polo, if not actually by him. The discovery that borax has unique value as a flux in metal soldering and ceramic glazing must have been made at some unknown time much earlier. As a rule, any mineral that has been used so long that its early history is lost must occur in deposits that are easily recognized and worked, and this is undoubtedly true of borax in Tibet. According to meager accounts,9 the borax occurs there in arid mountain basins as surficial crusts that coat the ground about thermal springs and seeps of mineralized water, and as coarser crystals in the bottom muds of shallow pools and lakes. Much the same essential features of surface exposures and minerals easy to recognize and recover characterize most of the deposits later found and worked elsewhere. The borax industry at the present time is faced with rising demands for its products, and consequently is increasing its productive capacity and appraising its borate resources.18 The areas that contain the known borate deposits are most likely to yield additional production, hence their distribution in the world is of interest, and is summarized later in this chapter. Mineralogy The mineral raw materials used by the borax industry include various borates mined in several countries, borax extracted from brines at Searles Lake in California, and boric acid extracted from the steam of vents in Tuscany in Italy. The hydrated borates[$] of chief commercial importance are listed in Table 1, which also shows their chemical composition. The properties of only the four most important borates are summarized here, but detailed descriptions of the borates and the minerals commonly found with them can be found in mineralogy textbooks.41 Ulexite generally forms clusters of silky fibers rather than large individual crystals. A

Jan 1, 1960

By Donald E. Garrett

The processing of brines from Searles Lake, California, yields one of the world's largest supplies of borax and boron chemicals, second probably only to the massive deposit at Boron, California. Two companies produce from this deposit, the American Potash & Chemical Corp. and the West End Chemical Co., a division of the Stauffer Chemical Co. Two processes are employed in recovering borax from the brines; one is used by both companies and consists of carbonating the brine to form sodium bicarbonate, removing this, and then cooling the liquor to crystallize a crop of borax. Only American Potash uses the second process, evaporating the brine to concentrate it and remove (crystallize) much of its NaCl, Na2CO3, Na2SO4, and NaLi2PO4 content, quick cooling the remaining liquor to remove KCI, and then seeding the filtrate to remove borax. Both methods will be briefly described. Searles Lake is a large evaporite body formed during the most recent two Sierra Nevada ice stages, the Tahoe and the Tioga. Runoff waters from the Sierra Nevada Mountains collected in the large Owens Valley drainage basin and from there overflowed into the Indian Wells basin and then into Searles Lake. In each Lake, evaporation took place. To a large extent the Owens and Indian Wells lakes acted as settling basins, for much of the mud, and insoluble calcium and magnesium precipitates were deposited there. Recent volcanic activity in the mountains to the north and east of Owens Lake had scattered considerable mineral-rich volcanic ash and debris throughout the drainage area, and several hot springs were formed that contained boron and other salts. The present flow rate and concentration of several springs, and the known age of at least the Tioga zone, can fairly well account for all of the boron present in Owens and Searles Lakes.1 The tungsten content can be accounted for in a similar manner.2 Most of the salts thus originally present in the fresh water runoff-from ice, snow, and rain-accompanying these two ice stages were ultimately deposited in Searles Lake. During the Tahoe period, from 25 to 40 ft of massive, mixed salts were deposited, along with six interspersed layers of mud (four inches to two feet thick) representing comparatively brief interglacial periods. Before the final desiccation of the lake, from 10 to 14 ft of new mud was deposited, representing the Tioga stage. The crystals subsequently deposited were from 70 to 90 ft thick, and form the present lake surface. The extent of the salt body is about 34 square miles, of which 12 square miles are exposed salt; the remaining area is covered by recent alluvial deposits (chiefly mud). The present lake is generally dry on the surface but floods to a shallow depth following heavy rains. The crystal body of both zones consists of continuous clusters of salts, and the voids between crystals (about 45 pct of the total volume) are occupied by brine. The level of this brine never recedes more than several inches below the salt surface. The brine pumped to the plants for processing is generally saturated with all of the solid phases present in that area, and thus is a complex mixture containing about 35 pct solids (see Table 3). The brine composition varies somewhat at different areas of the lake and from upper to lower structures, so wells are drilled in the areas and to the depths desired. A casing is cemented in the hole to within a short distance from the bottom, and pumps with about 14-ft suctions are mounted on the casing to pump the brine into the plants. The evaporation process of the American Potash & Chemical Corp. treats upper structure brine, evaporating all of the water from

Jan 1, 1960

By Charles R. Keyes

A COMPLETE transformation has taken place in the boras industry during the year 1908. A most remarkable factor in this radical change in method of producing the crude borates has been its removal from the realm of industrial chemistry to the field of mining. With the development of extensive deposits of borate-minerals interstratified in thick sequences of Tertiary clays and sands, their winning becomes a strictly mining-enterprise, of the same kind and of the same certainty as the digging of coal or iron-ore. The major supply of the world's production of commercial borax now comes from the United States. While formerly all of the boric salts of commerce were laboriously extracted from the waters of saline lakes of the arid regions, or from the bottom-salts of desiccated ponds, it later was largely slowly leached from ancient desert shales and clays. During these periods the borax industry was a very hazardous and expensive vocation.

Oct 1, 1909

By A. M. STROKG

Discussion of the paper of Charles R. Keyes, presented at the Spokane meeting. Bulletin o. 34, October, 1909, pp. 867 to 903. A. M. STRONG, Bishop, Cal: (communication to the Secretary*) The paper of Mr. Keyes gives us the most complete account of the geology of the borax-deposits in the Death Valley region that has yet been published, and is a valuable addition to the geological literature of a very interesting though little-known territory. During the past ten years I have been over much of the northern part of the country described by Mr. Keyes and the region immediately north of it. Mr. Keyes seems to give the impression that Furnace creek is the northern end of these borate-bearing deposits, but such is not the case. Of the seven principal marsh-deposits which for years furnished the greater part of the borax supply in the manner described by him, four are north of the boundary-line as given on his map. The entire territory immediately east of the Sierra Nevada is composed of a series of sinks, each with a well-defined drainage-area.. Of these, Death valley is the deepest, and its drainage-area one of the greatest. The section given in the paper is typical of any line drawn eastward from the Sierra Nevada. At the lowest point of each of these sinks is a marsh, which, in times of heavy rain-fall in the mountains, is converted into a lake. These marshes always contain borax, which is now considered to have been derived from the washing of the Tertiary lake-beds in the surrounding mountains, of which they form a considerable part. Additional territory which I have studied shows that the boundaries given on Mr. Keyes's map should be considerably extended to the north. Just how far these borate-beds extend I am not prepared to say. J. E. Spurr says of them : 1

Feb 1, 1910

By C. C. Oosthuizen

Paper written on project work carried out in partial fulfilment of Technikon Practical Training Frank shaft is mining both Merensky reef and UG2 reef. The Merensky orebody is almost depleted and this was the reason for starting to mine the UG2 ore reserves. It was decided to mine the UG2 orebody with trackless equipment using a bord and pillar mining method. Frank shaft has been mining the UG2 orebody for nearly 5 years. The T-cut mining method was introduced to see if it could improve the grade of the run of mine (ROM) as well the extraction percentage.

Jan 1, 2005

By D. F. Malan, P. M. Couto

We propose a layout design for the UG2 Reef where weak geological alteration layers are present. The collapse of the Everest platinum mine in South Africa indicated that these layers substantially weaken the pillars. The popular Hedley and Grant pillar strength formula cannot be used where these alteration layers are present. Underground investigations at Everest mine and numerical modelling of the layout were conducted using the TEXAN code and a limit equilibrium model. Simulations of a collapsed area and an intact area allowed for a preliminary calibration of the model. This was subsequently used to explore modified layouts for these ground conditions. An alternative is to compartmentalize the blocks of ore using barrier pillars. The numerical modelling predicted that the barrier pillars appear to remain stable even in the case of large-scale collapses, provided their width exceeds 25 m. Main access routes into the mine can be protected by a double row of pillars at least 15 m wide to provide a safe travelling way. As a cautionary note, these conclusions are based on the model calibration and this needs to be refined in future. Calibration of the limit equilibrium model remains a challenge owing to the large number of parameters involved.

May 3, 2023

By J. T. Jordaan

Paper written on project work carried out in partial fulfilment of B. Eng (Mining Engineering) degree This paper addresses the critical parameters that need to be considered when designing a mechanized bord-and-pillar mining layout for a narrow tabular steep dipping orebody. These parameters are : ?Reef dip ?Reef width ?Geological structures within the orebody ?Physical dimensions of the selection of machines ?Gradeability of the selection of machines. The main objective in designing such a layout is to maximize machine efficiencies whilst minimizing dilution. This methodology was then applied in the design of a mechanized bord-and-pillar mining layout for a given piece of ground (Vlakpoort and Moddergat) using a given selection of machines. This piece of ground contains the PGM bearing UG2 Reef with an average thickness of 124 cm and dipping at 18°withadverse strike and dip changes. Two bord-and-pillar layouts were designed for this area. Layout 1 is characterized by the use of strike conveyors to convey ore on strike with an average LHD hauling distance of 35 m. Layout2 uses LHDs for all on strike conveyance of ore with an average hauling distance of 75 m. These two layouts were then technically and financially compared. It was concluded that layout 1 is theoretically superior but layout 2 was chosen due to its greater flexibility and probability of operational success. Layout 2 was also compared to conventional mining and it was concluded to be more economically feasible. However the latter is a proven mining method in these conditions and has a lower risk operational failure. Bord-and-pillar mining has some favourable promises such as improving labour difficulties, lowering operating costs and providing safer working conditions. The success of mechanized bord-and-pillar mining in narrow tabular steep dipping orebodies will depend on the extent of the research and development efforts which need to create and innovate technologies to overcome some of the current limitations stated in the above-mentioned parameters.

Jan 1, 2003

By F. B. Plummer

GEOLOGICAL engineering as applied to oil fields, or production geology as some prefer to designate the profession, is designed to fill in the border line between pure geology and pure petroleum engineering. Therefore the production geologist may, and frequently does, reach out to grasp much in both professions. Where once the oil geologist was content to pick samples out of a mud ditch and try to identify oil formations from the color or appearance of flakes of rock bailed out of a well, now he has to deal with graphic electrical logs obtained by intricate and highly technical electrical apparatus and to make exact determinations to the fraction of an inch of the depth and thickness of an oil sand 2 miles below the surface.

Jan 1, 1944