Boron is a chemical element. It has the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three valence electrons for forming covalent bonds, resulting in many compounds such as boric acid, the mineral sodium borate, and the ultra-hard crystals of boron carbide and boron nitride.
Kernite, also known as rasorite, is a hydrated sodium borate hydroxide mineral with formula Na
2B
4O
6(OH)
2·3H
2O. It is a colorless to white mineral crystallizing in the monoclinic crystal system typically occurring as prismatic to acicular crystals or granular masses. It is relatively soft with Mohs hardness of 2.5 to 3 and light with a specific gravity of 1.91. It exhibits perfect cleavage and a brittle fracture.
A borate is any of a range of boron oxyanions, anions containing boron and oxygen, such as orthoborate BO3−3, metaborate BO−2, or tetraborate B4O2−7; or any salt of such anions, such as sodium metaborate, Na+[BO2]− and borax (Na+)2[B4O7]2−. The name also refers to esters of such anions, such as trimethyl borate B(OCH3)3 but they are alkoxides.
Borax is a salt, a hydrated or anhydrous borate of sodium, with the chemical formula Na2H20B4O17.
Outokumpu is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region, 48 kilometres (30 mi) west of Joensuu and 92 kilometres (57 mi) east of Kuopio. The municipality has a population of 6,440 and covers an area of 584.05 square kilometres (225.50 sq mi) of which 138.22 km2 (53.37 sq mi) is water. The population density is 14.44 inhabitants per square kilometre (37.4/sq mi). The most important road connection in the locality is Highway 9.
Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5H2O) or (CaB3O4(OH)3·H2O) is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite.
Boliden AB is a Swedish multinational metals, mining, and smelting company headquartered in Stockholm. The company produces zinc, copper, lead, nickel, silver, and gold, with operations in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Ireland.
The Borate Minerals are minerals which contain a borate anion group. The borate (BO3) units may be polymerised similar to the SiO4 unit of the silicate mineral class. This results in B2O5, B3O6, B2O4 anions as well as more complex structures which include hydroxide or halogen anions. The [B(O,OH)4]− anion exists as well.
20 Mule Team Borax is a brand of cleaner manufactured in the United States by The Dial Corporation, a subsidiary of Henkel. The product primarily consists of borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, and is named after the 20-mule teams that were used by William Tell Coleman's company to move borax out of Death Valley, California, to the nearest rail spur between 1883 and 1889.
Francis Marion Smith was an American miner, business magnate and civic builder in the Mojave Desert, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Oakland, California. He was known nationally and internationally as "Borax Smith" and "The Borax King", as his company produced the popular 20-Mule-Team Borax brand of household cleaner.
The Pacific Coast Borax Company (PCB) was a United States mining company founded in 1890 by the American borax magnate Francis Smith, the "Borax King".
Bandırma is a municipality and district of Balıkesir Province, northwestern Turkey. Its area is 755 km2, and its population is 164,965 (2022). Bandırma is located in the south of the Marmara Sea, in the bay with the same name, and is an important port city. It is approximately two hours away from Istanbul, İzmir and Bursa.
Boron compounds are compounds containing the element boron. In the most familiar compounds, boron has the formal oxidation state +3. These include oxides, sulfides, nitrides, and halides.
Disodium octaborate is a borate of sodium, a chemical compound of sodium, boron, and oxygen — a salt with elemental formula Na2B8O13 or (Na+)2[B8O13]2−, also written as Na2O·4B2O3. It is a colorless crystalline solid, soluble in water.
Allkem Limited, known as Orocobre Limited until 30 November 2021, is an Australian mining company that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arcadium Lithium. Allkem's portfolio includes lithium brine operations in Argentina, a hard-rock lithium operation in Australia and a lithium hydroxide conversion facility in Japan. Allkem is dual listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange. In May 2023, Allkem agreed terms to merge with Livent. In January 2024, Allkem and Livent merged to form the NYSE-listed Arcadium Lithium.
Borax Lake is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) alkaline lake in the Alvord Desert of southeastern Oregon in the United States. The lake is fed by geothermal springs 100 feet (30 m) below the surface that range in temperature from 104 to 300 °F. Surface water temperatures usually range from 61 to 100 °F but occasionally go higher. The springs lie along the Steens fault zone, which runs north–south through the Alvord Valley east of Steens Mountain.
The Rio Tinto Boron Mine in Boron, California is California's largest open-pit mine and the largest borax mine in the world, producing nearly half the world's borates. Ore reserves are sufficient for current economic production through early 2040's. It is operated by the Borax division of the Rio Tinto Group.
The Bigadiç mine is a large boron ore mine located at Balıkesir Province in western Turkey. Bigadiç represents one of the largest boron reserves in Turkey, with an estimated reserve of 623.5 million tonnes of ore grading 30% boron. Most of this is split between colemanite and ulexite.
The Emet mine is a large boron ore mine located at Kütahya Province in western Turkey. Emet represents one of the largest boron reserves in Turkey having an estimated reserve of 1.68 billion tonnes of ore grading 28% boron. Most of this comes in the form of colemanite. The Emet mines together account for 40% of the world's known colemanite reserves.
The Kırka mine is a large boron ore mine located at Eskişehir Province in western Turkey. Kırka represents one of the largest boron reserves in Turkey having an estimated reserve of 750.6 million tonnes of ore grading 28% boron. This is mainly in the form of tincal, although other borate minerals are present in smaller amounts. The Kırka deposit is the single largest tincal deposit in the world, accounting for 18% of the world's total reserves. It produces 2.5 megatonnes of ore per year and its reserves expected to last for another 300 years at current rates.
₺26.17 billion (2023)
