| Deposit ID | 60000729 |
|---|---|
| MRDS ID | ISM0513 |
| Record type | District |
| Current site name | Searles Lake |
| Alternate or previous names | Trona, Westend, Borax Lake |
| Related records | 10236401 |
| Geographic coordinates: | -117.40089, 35.76668 (WGS84) |
|---|---|
| Relative position | LAKE BASIN IS 16 KM E-W AND 32 KM N-S. THE SEARLES DRY LAKE PLAYA IS ABOUT 10 KM BY 16 KM. THE SALINE CRUST COVERS AN AREA OF APPROXIMATELY 106 SQ KM AND THE DRAINAGE AREA IS APPROXIMATELY 1850 SQ KM., LOCATION IS CENTROID FOR PLAYA |
Political divisions (FIPS codes)
San Bernardino(county)
California(state)
United States(country)
North America(continent)
Land(continent)
USGS map quadrangles
Trona West(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)
Ridgecrest(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)
Trona(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)
Hydrologic units (watersheds)
Indian Wells-Searles Valleys(hydrologic unit)
Northern Mojave(hydrologic accounting unit)
Northern Mojave-Mono Lake(hydrologic subregion)
California(hydrologic region)
Federal lands
Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management CA)
Bureau of Land Management CA BLM(Type of land area)
BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)
| Country | State | County |
|---|---|---|
| United States | California | San Bernardino |
| Commodity | Importance |
|---|---|
| Sodium Sulfate | Primary |
| Sodium Carbonate | Primary |
| Sodium | Primary |
| Soda Ash | Primary |
| Potassium | Primary |
| Boron-Borates | Primary |
| Phosphorus-Phosphates | Primary |
| Lithium Critical | Secondary |
| (1) | -117.40089, 35.76668 |
|---|
| Development status | Producer |
|---|---|
| Discovery year | 1863 |
| Discoverer | J.W. Searles |
| Year of first production | 1873 |
| Type | Owner |
|---|---|
| Owner | NORTH AMERICAN CHEMICAL CO. |
| Year | 1992 |
| Type | Owner |
|---|---|
| Owner | STAUFFER CHEMICAL CO.? |
| Year | 1992 |
| Type | Owner |
|---|---|
| Owner | HOOKER CHEMICAL CO.? |
| Year | 1992 |
| Type | Operator |
|---|---|
| Owner | NORTH AMERICAN CHEMICAL CO. |
| Year | 1992 |
SMITH, G.I., 1976, ORIGIN OF LITHIUM AND OTHER COMPONENTS IN THE SEARLES LAKE EVAPORITES, CALIFORNIA, IN VINE, J.E., ED., LITHIUM RESOURCES AND REQUIREMENTS BY THE YEAR 2000: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1005, P. 92-103.
RYKEN, L.E., 1976, LITHIUM PRODUCTION FROM SEARLES VALLEY, IN VINE, J.E., ED., LITHIUM RESOURCES AND REQUIREMENTS BY THE YEAR 2000: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1005, P. 33-34.
KISTLER, R.B., AND SMITH, W.C., 1975, BORON AND BORATES, IN LEFOND, S.J., ED., INDUSTRIAL MINERALS AND ROCKS (NONMETALLICS OTHER THAN FUELS): NEW YORK, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING, METALLURGICAL, AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERS, INC., P. 473-496.
ROSKILL INFORMATION SERVICES LTD., 1993, THE ECONOMICS OF BORON 1993, 7TH ED.: LONDON, ROSKILL INFORMATION SERVICES LTD., 156 P.
SMITH, G.I., 1985, BORATE DEPOSITS IN THE UNITED STATES - DISSIMILAR IN FORM, SIMILAR IN GEOLOGIC SETTING, IN BARKER, J.M., AND LEFOND, S.J., EDS., BORATES: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY AND PRODUCTION: NEW YORK, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING, METALLURGICAL, AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERS, INC., P. 37-51.
LYDAY, P.A., 1992, HISTORY OF BORON PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING: INDUSTRIAL MINERALS, NO. 303, P. 19-37.
Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.
MRDS records operators as of each record's last update (≤ 2019). Some of the operators listed here have since changed hands or dissolved:
Curated by qvyshift.com from publicly-reported M&A activity (SEC filings, press releases, USGS Mineral Yearbooks). Not authoritative — verify against primary sources before relying on it. The MSHA panel above is the current authoritative source for actively-permitted mines.
These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.