CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Vampire Planet: Killing in the Name of … Climate Change

Rio Tinto’s Borax Mine, in Boron, California. Photo by Colby Groves.

It’s dry, hot, and windy. The dust is swirling. My buddy Colby and I are in the heart of the blazing Mojave to visit California’s most expansive open-pit mine. Owned and operated by the Australian mining goliath Rio Tinto, the pit, which produces a mineral called borate, is uncomfortably large, stretching two miles long, 1¾ miles wide, and 755 feet deep. According to the Rio Tinto guide that let us through the gates (of hell?), the mine produces about half of the world’s borax supply, a borate-derived compound with many uses.

From our perch above the mine, we watch excavators fill large dump trucks, which are winding their way up dirt roads, spewing clouds of diesel exhaust as they navigate huge piles of dirt. It’s a slow, meticulous operation that digs out 1 million tons of refined borate each year. Rio Tinto has been seeking to offload its $2 billion California boron assets but has yet to find a buyer.

The US has classified borax as a critical mineral because it’s important not only for everyday items like food and laundry detergent but also for military applications and clean energy tech, such as wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicle batteries. So, you could say this open-pit mine is vital to both the US war machine as well as the green energy transition. 

If that sounds like an oxymoron, welcome to capitalism, pal.

There are many such metals and other elements vital to the transition away from fossil fuels. Lithium-ion batteries, of course, dominate. Cobalt, nickel, aluminum, graphite, and more are crucial to building out green energy infrastructure and renewables. Copper is crucial........

© CounterPunch