Monday, November 14, 2016

Borax Mine, Boron, NV

On the way to Red Rock State Park near Las Vegas we did what was undoubtedly the most exciting thing out of the entire trip.  We went to a laundry detergent mine. Ok that wasn’t the main part of the visit. It was really a boron mine. A boron mine is where borates are mined to make borax. We went to a visitor all about borax and how it’s made. I know sounds like torture, but it was better than driving. The visitor center wasn’t that interesting. It was a little building all about how boron is mined and how it is used; frankly I found it a little boron.  First it is mined and crushed. Then it is washed, dried, and crushed some more. By the end it resembles cat litter.  We learned that boron is used in, (take a deep breath), cleaning products, plates, fruit fertilizer, footballs, insulation, plastic fencing, cleaning rags, rubber balls, and a partridge in a pear tree.


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