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Borate deposits of the Mojave Region, California

Open-File Report 440
By:
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr440

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Abstract

Output of the United States borate producers reached approximately 1,000,000 tons in 1957, nearly four times the average annual production of 1941-45. Increasing consumption for long-established uses and several new ones accounts for the rise; further rise, for new uses such as high energy fuels, lies ahead. Among known borate deposits, the largest are at Searles Lake and Kramer, which supply 90 percent of the world's recorded production. The Kramer ore body, which is very large, consists of remarkably pure sodium borates in Tertiary lake beds. At Searles Lake, also large, the borax is produced from brines pumped out of salt layers which are the residue of a dessicated Pleistocene lake. Prospecting for borates is now more active than it has been for years. The best prospecting ground is in the alluvial-covered basins of western Nevada and particularly southeastern California, in concealed sections of Tertiary continental sediments. Several playas or salt flats that resemble Searles Lake were test-drilled for the U. S. Geological Survey by a contractor but the holes encountered no borates. Drill holes near Kramer, however, encountered a deposit of colemanite in lake beds.

Suggested Citation

Smith, W.C., 1958, Borate deposits of the Mojave Region, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 440, 30 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr440.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Borate deposits of the Mojave Region, California
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 440
DOI 10.3133/ofr440
Year Published 1958
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Claremont, CA
Description 30 p.
Country United States
State California, Nevada
City Kramer
Other Geospatial Mojave Desert, Searles Lake
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Additional publication details