Boraxo Mine & Bat Cave

[DeathValleyDazed]

Take a Halloween weekend raven escorted tour of the abandoned open pit Boraxo Mine just off of Dante's View Road in Death Valley National Park. The bat cave releases its inhabitants for their nightly dinner of insects as the sun sets in the west. Exit The Boraxo Mine as the moon rises above the Billie Mine across the highway. October 2020.
https://youtu.be/lmaf0Qy-c3Y

[Randy]

We have stayed away from that open pit mine due to the signage so thanks for venturing in there and posting this video.  They really moved a lot of dirt to make that huge hole.

[DeathValleyDazed]

They really moved a lot of dirt to make that huge hole.

Yup, heaps and heaps of rocks and dirt. The clean up job is actually quite impressive with very little unsightly and distracting debris remaining. It's hard to see in the video but on the east end of the pt about half way down is a large tunnel that looks big enough to drive one of those huge dump trucks into. I wonder if it was an exit, a maintenance, an exploratory tunnel, or what. Accessing it would be most difficult and may require some ropes. I wish somebody would survey the tunnel and post about it. It sure won't be me, too scary with steep unstable terraces. 

I believe the mine was deeded to Death Valley National Park but I could be wrong. There are some real details about the mine here:
https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/show-mrds.p...d=10023438
https://www.mindat.org/loc-5571.html

[GowerGulch42]

The Sigma and Boraxo Mines remain the private property of Rio Tinto, as does a large swath of the badlands around 20 Mule Team and Corkscrew Canyon. They recently began the process of deeding the Zabriskie Point/Gower Gulch badlands to the Park, which has been privately owned these last 130 years.

[DeathValleyDazed]

They recently began the process of deeding the Zabriskie Point/Gower Gulch badlands to the Park, which has been privately owned these last 130 years.

That's good news and I hope Rio Tinto deeds more area to the park.

[netllama]

They recently began the process of deeding the Zabriskie Point/Gower Gulch badlands to the Park, which has been privately owned these last 130 years.

That's good news and I hope Rio Tinto deeds more area to the park.

I assume they are only doing it once it has no more monetary value, and they want a tax writeoff.

[GowerGulch42]

Of course, it's had no monetary value since 1991 when it became enclosed by the national park. Probably much earlier, when Golden Canyon was developed.

[DeathValleyDazed]

Probably much earlier, when Golden Canyon was developed.

I've enjoyed wandering around Golden Canyon, The Zabriskie Badlands, up towards Twenty Mule Team and have come across several sealed off mine tunnels that off of the beaten paths. I assumed they were after Borax or Gypsum? I doubt there is any precious metals in there?