U.S. Borax - Boron, CA
Large load · 14486 BORAX ROAD, Boron, CA
U.S. Borax, Rio Tinto's borax business, mines borates at Boron in Kern County, California, from what Rio Tinto describes as one of the richest borate deposits in the world. Mining at Boron began in 1927, and the mine produces about one million tonnes of refined borates a year, or roughly 30% of global demand. Refined product moves through the company's Wilmington refinery and shipping facility at the Port of Los Angeles, which Rio Tinto says has been in continuous operation since 1924 and ships more than 300,000 tons of bulk material to customers. Rio Tinto mines trona at its Owens Lake operation to process borates.
Overview
A 1982 trade report, indexed by the U.S. Department of Energy's OSTI database, described a $30 million natural-gas-fired turbine plant that would supply all of the electricity and steam needed at the U.S. Borax and Chemical Corp. operation. The cogeneration facility was scheduled to come online in 1984 and was expected to pay for itself in about five years. The plant was rated at 46 megawatts, and the report said only half would be used on site, with the 22 megawatt surplus sold to Southern California Edison Co. on a 20-year contract at a price pegged to the utility's avoided costs. The report places the plant in Los Angeles, although the operation is in Kern County, so the location follows the report's wording.
Profile
- Renewable diesel fleet and tailings work
- Rio Tinto says it completed the full transition of heavy machinery at Boron from fossil diesel to renewable diesel, and calls the site the first open pit mine in the world to reach that milestone. The change covered haul trucks and loaders, and renewable diesel is also used in blasting. The switch followed a trial with Neste and Rolls-Royce that ran through 2022. A local report from a March 2026 meeting of the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council says researchers studying historic mine tailings found that the waste rock contains lithium, and that materials from the former waste streams now produce pozzolans for cement and concrete.
- Ownership and the sale process
- Rio Tinto is preparing to sell its U.S. boron assets, according to media reports summarized by ChemAnalyst. The assets include the Boron mine and processing site, the refinery and shipping facility at the Port of Los Angeles, and the Owens Lake mining operation. Rio Tinto has engaged major banks to advise on the sales process. The sale fits the plan of new chief executive Simon Trott to simplify the group's operating model, after he reorganized the company into iron ore, copper and aluminium/lithium product groups and placed the borates business under a strategic review. The assets together supply about 30% of the global boron market.
Facility
- Activity
- Refined borates
- Industry
- Mining
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Jan 1, 1927
- Mining at Boron begins
California operations | Global
- Sep 1, 1982
- Trade report describes a planned 46 MW natural-gas cogeneration plant with 22 MW surplus sold to SCE
Borax spends $30M for cogeneration system. [US Borax and Chemical Corp] (Journal Article) | OSTI.GOV
- Jun 15, 2023
- Rio Tinto completes conversion of Boron heavy machinery to renewable diesel
Rio Tinto completes transition of heavy machinery to renewable diesel at US California borax site - News - The Chemical Engineer
- Mar 4, 2026