Producer
Rio Tinto Boron (formerly US Borax)
American borate mining operation (Boron, Kern County, California; Rio Tinto subsidiary since 1968 acquisition of US Borax, itself founded 1872); the world's largest open-pit borax mine, located in the Mojave Desert of California. The Boron mine — locally known as the '20 Mule Team Borax' mine after the historical method of transporting borax from the Mojave — has been continuously operating since 1872, making it one of the oldest mining operations in California. Rio Tinto Boron is the second-largest global boron producer after Turkey's Eti Maden, producing refined boric acid, anhydrous borax, and B2O3 from deposits that underlie the California desert. The town of Boron, California (population ~2,500) exists primarily as the community built to house the mine's workforce. US Borax was the company behind the Borax household cleaning brand ('20 Mule Team Borax' cleaner) — the same California desert mining company whose product whitened Victorian-era laundry also supplies the boron that makes pharmaceutical vials thermally stable.
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Boron Mining & Primary Processing
60%Industrial Boron Products
30%Consumer & Brand Products
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Did you know2023
The Boron, California mine operated by Rio Tinto (formerly US Borax, founded 1872) produces the same borax mineral compound used in: (1) borosilicate glass for pharmaceutical injectable vials (B2O3 provides hydrolytic stability); (2) fiberglass insulation (E-glass uses boron for thermal insulation and tensile strength); (3) 20 Mule Team Borax household cleaner (the iconic Mojave Desert mining brand sold in every supermarket); (4) agricultural fertilizer micronutrients (borate foliar sprays for boron-deficient crops); and (5) borated polyethylene neutron shielding (used in nuclear waste storage containers). One California Mojave Desert mine simultaneously supplies the ingredient that makes pharmaceutical vials thermally stable, fiberglass insulation in homes, laundry whitener sold at Walmart, crop nutrient spray for apples in Washington state, and radiation shielding material in nuclear waste facilities. Rio Tinto has operated the Boron mine for 55 years (since 1968); US Borax operated it for 96 years before that. The mineral extracted from the same California desert that Gold Rush prospectors and 20-mule-team teamsters crossed in the 1800s now goes into pharmaceutical primary packaging for injectable antibiotics.
Rio Tinto Minerals ↗Origin2023
US Borax was founded in the Mojave Desert in 1872 when prospector Francis "Borax" Smith discovered vast borax deposits near Death Valley. The business challenge was transportation: the Mojave Desert borax deposits were 160 miles from the nearest railroad at Mojave, California, across some of America's harshest terrain. Smith's solution — teams of 20 mules pulling massive wagons of borax ore across the desert heat — became one of American mining history's most iconic operations, immortalized in the "20 Mule Team Borax" brand still sold today. Rio Tinto acquired US Borax in 1968 for $130M, adding the California boron mining operation to its growing diversified mining portfolio. The Boron mine's colemanite and kernite deposits represent one of the world's largest and highest-grade borate resources — a 152-year-old mining operation that has outlasted nearly every other mining company founded in the 1870s American West.
Rio Tinto Group ↗