FMC Idles Granger Soda Ash Production.
* FMC Corporation has discontinued trona mining and mothballed soda ash production at its Granger, WY operation. Soda ash production and mining operations at FMC's Green River Westvaco facility are not affected by this action. "This has been a very difficult decision to make because it impacts...

Here's the scoop on "natural fertilizers." (includes related article on lawn problems and solutions) (Special Issue: Spring-Summer 1994 Garden Guide - Planting & Maintenance Guide)
In recent years, several companies have introduced lines of "natural" fertilizers. What are they, how do they work, and are they worth the cost? First you need to be sure you know what you're buying. What's in a name? Products labeled fertilizer must show how much of the...

Partners team up to train chemical technicians.
A group of Aboriginal students from northern Saskatchewan are taking part in a program that allows them to take the first year of a two-year chemical technology course without having to leave the north. The program is being offered through a partnership between the Saskatchewan Institute of...

Red wulfenite: from the Kuruktag Mountains, Xinjiang Uygur, China.
Wulfenite appears to be quite rare in China. Until recently, only a few mediocre specimens with small yellow to red crystals have reached the specimen market, from a rare-earth mine in the Mianning area, Sichuan province. In October 2006, however, the first really fine Chinese wulfenite specimens were brought...

Recently posted on axis.
MARONG, D. M. (2005) The development of precision in locality notations: some classical and some modern methods. Axis, volume 1, number 4, pages 1-9. Field collectors today can learn from the mistakes of the past when recording the sites of their discoveries. Otherwise, many localities which may...

Embodied energy: we can't measure the impact of solid waste unless we study the energy we throw away.
WASTE discussions have traditionally focused on the back-end management of garbage: the significant economic and environmental implications of finding safe disposal sites, for example. But the obvious often escapes us--that garbage is made up of basic materials (metal, wood, plastic, glass, etc.) that require energy to obtain, process and...

Sulfuric acid's cures neither easy nor cheap.
Byline: Diane Dietz / The Register-Guard MINING'S TOXIC LEGACY Miners often trigger acid-water discharge when they unearth veins of sulfide-bearing rock, exposing them to air and water. When mixed together, the three ingredients - sulfide rock, water and air - set off a...

Industry fatalities in 2004.
1. On January 29, a 24-year-old laborer with four days mining experience was fatally injured at a cement operation. The victim entered a large transfer duct and walked in ankle deep dust until he reached a point where the duct work joined with another one. He walked on the...

Obituaries. (Notes from the Editor).
Died, James W. Minette, 66, passed away on January 26, 2002, after short illness. He was born on January 20, 1936, in Iowa, but was a long-time resident of Boron, California. A graduate of the Colorado School of Mines, he was for many years associated with the U.S. Borax...

Coastal boom on the tide.
Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard BROOKINGS - In the late 1800s, U.S. Borax Inc. bought a rugged chunk of property on the southern Oregon Coast and sunk a mine into it to search for boron, used in Fiberglas and detergents. But the company soon found...