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Borax Bonanzas

Written by Iver P. Cooper

 

"She burns green! Rosie, by God, we're rich." Those were the words by which Aaron Winters supposedly announced his discovery of borax in Death Valley. At the time, the United States was importing about 400,000 pounds a year, and the borax retailed at a price of fifty cents a pound. Borax was nicknamed the "White Gold of the Desert."

Uses of Boron Compounds

Laura Runkle, in "Mente et Malleo: Practical Mineralogy and Minerals Exploration in 1632" (Grantville Gazette 2), lists boron as one of the many materials needed for "chemical manufacturing." In particular, it's an essential ingredient in the manufacture of heat- and shock-resistant borosilicate glass. This, in turn, is an "infrastructure" item for the USE's chemical laboratories and small-scale chemical production facilities.

Borax was probably first used by goldsmiths and silversmiths, as a flux for soldering precious metals. A flux lowers the melting point of the metal it's added to. Once its price went down, it could be used in fusing baser metals. See Evans, "Metallic Fusion" (Grantville Gazette 16).

Borax was also used, at least by the sixteenth century, for refining. After an air blast, the "viler metals" would "slag off" as oxides, whereas the noble metal would remain molten. (Rose 381ff). It has been shown that small-scale miners can concentrate gold from its ore using borax and charcoal, rather than mercury or cyanide. (GEUS)

Metals could also be assayed, pre-RoF; you would test the material using fluxes with various strengths of borax.

The first European to suggest the addition of borax to glass was Johann Kunckel (1679); the glass in question was used to make imitation precious stones (hopefully with the buyer's knowledge).

Borax was also used in pottery glazes (by 1699, possibly much earlier) and as an enamel flux (1758).

The "borax bead test" was developed in the mid-eighteenth century. It depends on the ability of fused borax (borax heated to remove the water) to dissolve metal oxides and, in the process, form complex borates with colors which are characteristic of the metal in question.

There was some medieval experimentation with borax (and boric acid) as a medicinal agent, but their only real medical value is as a mild antiseptic (Lister in 1875). However, they do have some additional, indirect, health benefits. Prior to the development of refrigeration, boric acid was used as a food preservative (1887).

Boric acid and many of its salts are also fairly benign pesticides. Boric acid can be used to inhibit bacterial contamination of penicillin cultures (Mackey, "Crude Penicillin," Grantville Gazette 10). Zinc borate may come in handy to make sure that our aircraft don't fall apart because of fungal attack on casein glues. Hollombe, "On the Design, Construction and Maintenance of Wooden Aircraft," Grantville Gazette 6).

The principal modern use of borax is in the manufacture of borosilicate glass, which typically is 5–20% boron oxide. (Cooper, "In Vitro Veritas," Grantville Gazette 5). Note that boron oxide can be used in making glass fibers, of the E (electrical, an aluminum borosilicate), C (chemical), and D (high dielectric constant) types. These may in turn be used to make glass-reinforced plastic.

Other modern uses of borate salts are as a welding flux, detergent, water-softener, household bleach, rust inhibitor, weatherproofing agent (for wood), fireproofing agent (for fabrics) and fertilizer ingredient.

The 1999 domestic consumption of boron compounds included: insulation-grade glass fibers (193,000 metric tons boron oxide content), textile-grade glass fibers (71,100), borosilicate glasses (25,900), soaps and detergents (23,200), fire retardants (15,310), enamels, frits and glazes (14,400), agriculture (14,000), metallurgy (552), nuclear applications (454), miscellaneous (22,800), and unknown (35,400). (USGS)

There are also some more exotic boron-based materials. Boron nitride and boron carbide are about as hard as diamond, and have been used as abrasives, in wear-resistant parts, and in body armor.

Boron nitride powder is an excellent insulator, and resistant to chemicals and heat. It can be hot-pressed into a variety of shapes. (McGHEST/Boron).

Boron trichloride and the other boron halides can be used as catalysts. Boron trichloride can be reacted with hydrogen gas at high temperatures, forming boron vapors, and this can be deposited as amorphous boron on tungsten wire. The boron-tungsten wires can be used to make unidirectional composites.

Elemental amorphous boron imparts a green color to pyrotechnic flares. Crystalline boron can serve as a p-type dopant in silicon semiconductors.

Ferroboron (iron-boron alloy) is used to harden steel and to deoxidize copper-base alloys.

 

The Pre-RoF Tincal Trade

 

The resources of the USE are limited. Hence, it doesn't want to send out prospectors if it can meet its needs by simple trade.

The down-timers knew borax under the name tincal (other spellings, too), and Europe imported it from Tibet, mostly by way of India and the Ottoman Empire.

According to Mackey, "Crude Penicillin" (Grantville Gazette 10), in our time period, "borax was one of some twenty-seven common mineral substances used in medicinal or cosmetic recipes. While the most expensive mineral ingredient (2–3 guilders per pound), borax nevertheless was available throughout much of Europe." And that was despite the fact that borax was traveling all the way from Tibet.

How much borax is immediately available to the USE? Its use in the early seventeenth century was mostly as a flux by goldsmiths, which implies that it was a low volume commodity.

The Venetians were the European "gatekeepers" from prior to 1500 until the late seventeenth century. The Persian-Ottoman wars of 1526–1555, 1577–1590, 1602–1612, 1623–1638, 1722–1727, 1730–1736, 1743–1747 and 1776–1779 disrupted the Near East segment of the long trade route, and Venetian economic power declined as a result of European competition for Mediterranean sea trade and the Ottoman takeover of Venetian overseas territories.

The reins of control were taken up by the Dutch, who presumably acquired tincal in India and then shipped it around Africa.

Both the Venetians and their Dutch successors made the most of their import monopoly. In 1750, the London price of tincal was 700 British pounds per ton (Travis 32). That made it still an extremely expensive commodity. The price dropped to 400 by 1815; this is probably attributable to reduced shipping costs.

A description of the Tibetan trade in 1840–50 said that the tincal is carried, in 30–40 pound saddlebags, by sheep, in a drove of 800–1000 animals. Each beast is supposedly bearing its own weight in tincal, although that seems rather high to me. Based on data for Asian breeds, we are probably talking about two 30–40 pound saddlebags apiece. So one drove is 48,000–80,000 pounds, or 24–40 tons. The source didn't specify the number of droves per year.

One of the problems with the Tibetan tincal trade is that the borax passed through so many middlemen, and was such a high value item, that it often arrived in a highly adulterated form. It would contain alum, common salt or even sand. (Travis 16) Hence, one motivation for developing a European source would be to be able to exercise a greater degree of quality control.

 

Development of the Boron Industry in the Original Time Line

 

The background information given in this section is not necessarily available to the up-timers of Grantville, but is useful in appreciating how important the various known sources of boron are likely to be.

There are at least 36 boron-containing minerals. Borax (disodium tetraborate decahydrate) was the first commercially important borate. Others include tincalconite (disodium tetraborate pentahydrate), kernite (disodium tetraborate tri- or tetrahydrate), "cotton ball" ulexite (sodium calcium pentaborate octahydrate), colemanite (calcium triborate monohydrate), priceite (dicalcium pentaborate monohydrate), boracite (magnesium borate chloride), and sassolite (crystalline boric acid). Borates are salts of boric acid, and the acid is found in solution in some brines and hot springs. Sodium borates (borax, tincalonite, kernite) are water-soluble and therefore easier and cheaper to process than calcium borates. (Scott 90).

The first alternative to Tibetan tincal was the boric acid of Tuscany, discovered in 1777 by Francisco Hoefer, a German chemist in the employ of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The first successful effort to commercially develop these hot springs was by Francois de Lardarel in 1818. In its initial decade of operation, his facility produced about 75 tons of boric acid each year. By the 1850s, the Tuscan output had brought the price of borax down to less than 100 British pounds per ton; the 1860 production was about 2,000 tons (Travis 26, 32).

South America was identified as a source of boron compounds in 1787, at Potosi, Bolivia. Borate deposits were later found in Peru, Argentina and Chile. However, the South American deposits weren't placed into commercial production until 1852 (NBRI), and production was minor until the 1880s (Travis). It is worth noting that the western deposits are on a plateau at an altitude of about 15,000 feet.

The first borate discovery in North America was in 1856, when Dr. John Veatch tested the waters from Lick Springs, in Tehama County, California. Some months later, at "Alkali Lake" (renamed "Borax Lake"), he found that the lake bottom (virtually exposed during the summer), under a few feet of "soapy matter," had an eighteen inch thick layer of borax-bearing clay, with a borax content averaging about 100 pounds/square yard. That suggested that the whole lake could produce about 128 million pounds. The production cost was three cents/pound; borax then sold for fifty cents/pound. (Hurlbut 137). Do the math. . . .

Prospectors fanned out across California and Nevada. Searles Lake, in San Bernardino County (McGHEST) was put in production in 1873. Production was initially by excavating surface borax crusts, then (together with potash and soda) from brine wells (1916).

Rosie and Aaron Winters found borax near Furnace Creek Ranch in 1881. By 1883, the famous twenty mule teams were hauling ten ton wagon loads of borates out of Death Valley. Some twelve million pounds were carried the 165 miles to Mojave depot in 1883–1888. (Borax Museum).

Another borate mining region lies in Turkey. A calcium borate was found, quite accidentally, at Panderma in 1865. This "pandermite" was easily carved, and statues made of the material came into the hands of a French engineer and amateur chemist named Desmazures. He was astonished to discover that the statues had a high boron content. He traced the figurines back to their source, and quickly obtained a mining concession (Travis 28). Curiously, the Anglo-centric Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition (EB11), published in 1911, said that borax was "mainly derived from the boric acid of Tuscany."

The London price of borax was 35 pounds/ton in 1880, but rose to 60 in 1884. This was probably attributable to its use in enamels and glazes. But thanks to the Californian production, the London price dropped again, to 30 (1890) and 16 (1900). The latter was equivalent to 3.5 cents/pound. (Travis 35). USGS gives a 1900 U.S. price of $111/ton ($2170 in 1998 dollars.)

Some notion of the relative productivity of these different sources of borates (and boric acid) can be gleaned from statistics. In 1895–1905, the average annual production of borates was as follows:

 

United States 25,000 metric tons

Chile 10,000

Turkey 9,000

Peru 5,000

Italy 2,700

Tibet few hundred

(Travis 35)

 

Bear in mind that the Tibetan and Italian producing areas had been exploited for a longer period than those of the Americas or Turkey, and so these figures may underestimate the ability of those areas to supply the USE in 163x.

Corning introduced heat-resistant and virtually unbreakable borosilicate glass ovenware in the 1920s, but sales were poor. Walter Thompson told Corning in 1929 that the price of Pyrex® ovenware was simply too high; ninety cents for a Pyrex® pie plate, versus fifteen to forty cents for a metal one. (Stage 169). Curiously, the 1919 price premium for small borosilicate glass laboratory beakers was smaller; a 250cc Griffin low form was 23 cents borosilicate, 19 cents ordinary glass. (Daigger 40).

In 1925, kernite was discovered, in Kern County, California, and the Death Valley mining operation was shut down. The kernite deposit was then the largest known sodium borate deposit in the world (four square miles and a hundred feet thick). Unfortunately, it lay at a depth of 130–1,000 feet. It was worked for thirty years by underground methods, and subsequently, more cheaply, as an open pit. (Hurlbut 140). By 1935, the price of borate had dropped fifty percent. (Scott 90).

It was the kernite discovery that brought prices down sufficiently to make borosilicate glassware a common household item. Fiberglass was first commercially produced in 1936, and by the Late Thirties, borosilicate glass was used to make fibers. (Scott).

In 1960, Kern was eclipsed by the discovery of the sodium borate deposit at Kirka, Turkey. (NBRI). Mining began there in the mid-seventies. (Garrett xiv). Nonetheless, the EA/Kernite article says that "Very small deposits are in Argentina and Turkey," which makes you wonder how often they update their content.

In 2001, the leading producers of boron oxide (derived from borate) were the United States and Turkey, distantly trailed by Chile and China. Total world production of boron oxide was 1,546,000 metric tons.

 

Boric Acid and Borax in Canon

 

In Cologne, in April 1634, Gysbert discovered that borax was the solution to the penicillin culture contamination problem. (Mackey, "Prepared Mind," Grantville Gazette 10).

In April 1634, Sharon Nichols comments, "We're probably going to have trouble with the borax, too. The Turks seem to be the only ones who've got it, andthey're not being real friendly so far." (Flint and Dennis, 1634: The Galileo Affair, Chap. 29). It's not so much that the Turks are the only ones who can produce it, but rather that they were the only ones selling it to Europeans.

By the summer, at least, Sharon is aware of alternatives close-at-hand. A recent high school graduate with strong chemistry aptitude, Lewis Philip Bartolli, is sent to Tuscany to search around Larderello for boric acid-rich waters and then, with the aid of the Cavriani office in Florence, acquire mineral rights and set up a production process. He is sidetracked by a forgery investigation on behalf of the Grand Duke, but the forger is a member of the Inghirami family, and as part of the price for letting their prodigal son off lightly, the Inghiramis agree to supply the labor and materials for the Larderello operation. (Cooper, "Under the Tuscan Son," Grantville Gazette 9).

 

Prospecting for Borates: Knowing Where to Look

 

Library research in Grantville will reveal the names of several localities where boron compounds may be found.

Germany. Prospecting begins at home. According to the "Boracite" article in 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (EB11), "Small crystals bounded on all sides by sharply defined faces are found in considerable numbers embedded in gypsum and anhydrite in the salt deposits at Luneburg in Hanover." It adds that a massive form of the mineral, Stassfurtite, "occurs as nodules in the salt deposits at Stassfurt in Prussia: that from the carnallite layer is compact, resembling fine-grained marble, and white or greenish in color, whilst that from the kainite layer is soft and earthy, and yellowish or reddish in color."

****

Italy. Boric acid is found in volcanic vapors and hot springs, principally in the Lipari Islands and in Tuscany.

The Lipari Islands are dominated by the eponymous Mt. Vulcano; boric acid is said to occur in the crater in sufficient quantities to have been exploited commercially in the old time line. Unfortunately, the Lipari Islands are part of the Kingdom of Naples, which is under the control of the Spanish Hapsburgs.

The Tuscan resources are both more accessible and far greater. Although the Encyclopedia Britannica errs in asserting that, in 1911, Tuscany was still the "main source" of borax, it was the Tuscan boric acid (which could be converted into borax) which broke the Tibetan tincal monopoly.

EB11 also may mislead up-timers as to exactly where in Tuscany the boric acid is found. Almost poetically, it remarks, "the chief source of boric acid for commercial purposes is the Maremma of Tuscany, an extensive and desolate tract of country over which jets of vapor and heated gases (soffioni) and springs of boiling water spurt out from chasms and fissures. In some places the fissures open directly into the air, but in other parts of the district they are covered by small muddy lakes (lagoni)."

The term "Maremma," properly speaking, refers to the marshy coast of Tuscany. The EB11's article on Tuscany warns that "malaria is prevalent," and this would surely be confirmed by Grantville's down-time associates. George Dennis, writing in 1848, quoted a proverb, "In the Maremma, you get rich in a year, but you die in six months."

However, the boric acid is actually found, not in the malarial lowlands, but in the Colline Metallifere (Metalliferous Hills) just south of Volterra. The up-time books do offer a few clues that this is the case. For example, the EB11 article on Italy mentions that "boracic acid is chiefly found near Volterra."

The Colline Metallifere had been mined, since Etruscan times, for rock salt, alum, sulfur, mercury, lead, zinc, and other valuable materials.

There are some better clues as to where to look. Given the volcanic origin of boric acid, it would make sense to review articles on volcanoes in the encyclopedias. The diligent researcher would learn that "Near Lardarello in Tuscany, boric acid has been produced from scalding natural steam for more than a century." (Encyclopedia Americana/Volcanoes). After a misleading reference to the Maremma, EB11/Volcano notes that "From Sasso in Tuscany it [boric acid] has received the name of sassolin or sassolite." (The area of Lardarello, by the way, is thought to have inspired Dante's Inferno.)

Most world atlases don't show the location of either town but Lardarello is in the National Geographic Atlas of the World (1975). Moreover, considering the percentage of Grantville's population which is Italian-American, there is a pretty good chance that, if you go door-to-door, you can find detailed road maps and guides to Italy and even, specifically, to Tuscany.

Lardarello, for example, is mentioned in The Green Guide: Italy (p. 467), as ...