Introduction
GIS can serve as an excellent management technology for the mining industry. One of the most important considerations for company adoption of a GIS is that industry professionals trained as engineers, geologists, or other earth scientists, view GIS as a tool to enhance and assist them in addressing their primary technical or management function within the company.
      This paper discusses the development of a GIS for U.S. Borax Inc. (U.S. Borax) Rather than undertake a separate, comprehensive, and expensive GIS development project, engineering, hydrological, hydrogeological and air quality projects were used as a basis to develop individual GIS coverages or themes as work products. Once several coverages were completed, they were merged and presented to U.S. Borax to demonstrate the capability to use GIS as a long term management tool. Evolution of the GIS continues today in the same manner. U.S. Borax is, therefore, realizing the advantages of a GIS without having incurred high capital and operating costs necessary to implement a system independent of other technical programs.

Site Description
The U.S. Borax Mine (Figure 1) is located in the Upper Mojave Desert in Kern County, Calif. between the towns of Mojave and Barstow. It is the largest mine in the state of California and one of the highest grade boron reserves in the world. The mine and related processing facilities have been in continuous operation since 1913. Exploration at the site has established approximately 50 years of reserves. The site complex as a result of the geology and mineralogy, the long history of operation, diversity of mining and processing technology, surface land ownership constraints, and changing regulatory and operating environment.
      Operations at the U.S. Borax facility can be divided into five categories; Mining, Materials Processing, Mining Waste Management, Environmental Management and Reclamation. Individual departments are responsible for management of each category of operation and report to a vice president of operations who is responsible for coordinated facilities management. The integrated operation is dependent upon maintaining coordinated technical and geographic control of site activities. For example, mine expansion planning is constrained by waste rock storage availability while processing operations must consider water consumption requirements and the use of reclaim retention storage ponds. Past underground operations must be considered when planning new surface facilities. Management of environmental compliance issues related to air, surface and ground water must also be considered to provide consistency and continuity with mine development and waste management practices. Finally, reclamation is an ongoing element of site activities that must coincide with overall operations while remaining consistent with regulatory requirements.

Development For A GIS For The Site
In 1990, U.S. Borax and its consultant, Condor Earth Technologies Inc. initiated various long term site environmental planning and other technical projects that could be partially accomplished through and benefit by use of a GIS. These activities included a study of the hydrogeology of the site, closure of several large retention ponds, placement of mine waste rock, combined storage of waste rock and process by-product materials, basin hydrology, and air quality. Despite the apparent advantages of a GIS to address these complex issues, U.S. Borax was unfamiliar with GIS and the costs for direct implementation of a GIS could not be confidently established. The company was, therefore, reluctant to proceed with a direct conversion of data to immediately build a comprehensive GIS. It was, therefore, recommended that a plan of implementation as part of other on-going required work activities at the site.
      Some of the issues considered in developing a GIS for the Borax operation included the following:
1. Is a GIS warranted for the site?
2. Will site work assignments justify producing a product in a GIS format?
3. What existing information and data can be used as a platform for developing a GIS?
4. How will additional field data be efficiently and cost effectively collected to update existing site information and produce new coverages or themes?
5. A need for cost effective and consistent presentation of data.
6. Better control of QA/QC.
7. Can the results of a GIS (including electronic format) be effectively utilized on-site by staff?
      Condor had developed several GIS programs for other natural resources companies. This experience had shown that GIS can best be implemented by providing GIS as a support function to other technical activities and to integrate development with CAD work products. Condor, therefore, suggested that deliverables for all site work require a GIS coverage or theme, where reasonable, for all segments of work on the site. In this way the marginal cost for developing the GIS would be very small for any component of site work. When the themes were eventually combined, U.S. Borax would be provided with a GIS which could be used as a base and updated in the future as the value of the system was demonstrated during continuing operations.

Map, Survey Control, and System Requirements
All mines are dependent on maps and surveys to provide control in the development of operations. U.S. Borax is no exception. Aerial photography and ground survey control have been developed for the entire site. The availability of this information at mining operations provides immediate advantages in establishing a GIS. First, no additional costs are required for developing a base map. Second, high accuracy is provided for establishing all other map information. These map products and related information formed the basis for the development of the GIS for the facility.

ARC/INFO GIS Software
Condor had previously selected the ESRI group of GIS products for mining and other natural resource GIS project work. Experience with ARC/INFO and the knowledge that this platform would meet the U.S. Borax needs led to a recommendation to develop the GIS for the site on this platform. The ArcView and ArcCad products provided the ability to introduce U.S. Borax personnel to the value of GIS with low-cost, easy-to-use, and immediately applicable GIS examples while providing integration with existing AutoCad products.

PenMap Real-Time Field Survey, Mapping and GIS Data Collection Software
While existing base maps were available in digital format at the U.S. Borax operation, the maintenance of the GIS was dependent upon the ability to update existing maps and create new coverages cost effectively. Condor's PenMap software was selected to undertake field survey, mapping and GIS data collection. The PenMap software operates on a ruggedized field 486 Pen computer allowing the individual doing the survey to use any of 20 different survey and data collection methods and to see the map as it is being created in the field. In addition, the program includes a GIS forms generator to enable the creation of user defined GIS forms for use in field data collection. These forms can be attached to any point, symbol, or other graphic feature on the map as it is created in the field. Once attribute information is collected, it can then be exported to ARC/INFO, ArcView, ArcCad or AutoCAD. A key feature is the ability to import maps and GIS data from any of these other platforms, as well as many others, so that maps and database information can be taken to the field for easy updating.
      An extremely important use of the PenMap system was made when maps of different scales containing information for use in the GIS were combined. Digital map data was imported to PenMap to be taken to the field where it could be easily verified and updated. The information could then be exported to ARC/INFO or ArcView where it was used for GIS analysis or delivered back to AutoCad for update of drawings. This enabled the reconciliation of significant map information and data that had been created during more than 50 years of mine operation.

Project Activity and Resulting GIS Work Products
The following section provides a brief description of engineering, geotechnical, hydrogeological and hydrological projects that required several months, or in some cases several years to complete and related GIS products. It is important to emphasize that at no time was the client anticipating development of the GIS. U.S. Borax was instead interested in resolving technical issues related to short and long-term profitable operations. The GIS became both a tool for and by-product of the principal work activity. Figure 3 is a graphic summary of projects discussed below.

Project #1 Turning Liabilities Into Assets - Evaporation Pond Reclamation
The future of mines are being redefined as their long term asset value appreciates and environmental requirements change. Materials once considered waste are now considered ore. For example, residual materials retained in evaporation ponds at the U.S. Borax facility contain boron and other recoverable minerals. The incentive to reprocess these materials is defined by both recoverable grades as well as the high cost of in-place closure dictated by changes in environmental regulations during the 1980s.
      Large evaporation ponds at the U.S. Borax facility are now planned for reclamation. The project requirements included design and implementation of pond dewatering, development of a materials recovery system, design and implementation of a process facility, and design and permitting of pond closure.
      AutoCad drawings of the ponds were developed from aerial photography and site survey. Pond materials were evaluated by collecting samples during a comprehensive drilling program and subsequently subjecting the sampled materials to physical and chemical analysis. The analytical results were treated as attributes of the pond and displayed in GIS coverages for future evaluation. Total material volumes were determined as well as recoverable quantities of valuable minerals which could then be used in determining the economics of recovery of the pond materials versus closure in place. Because only a percentage of the materials can be economically recovered, residual process materials must be stored in an alternative location. The volumes of these materials could be calculated and locations for their disposal determined. U.S. Borax is now developing reprocessing plans for mining the evaporation ponds.

Project #2 Ground Water Analysis
Vigilant monitoring and evaluation of site groundwater conditions is undertaken at U.S. Borax. The complexity of site geology and the indigenous mineralization combined with current and past mining activities make the use of GIS an extremely attractive tool for the hydrogeologist. The site digital aerial map was used as a base to record groundwater well locations which were surveyed with a Total Station to establish accurate horizontal and vertical control. Water quality information is then collected from the wells from different geologic formations. The information is used to determine the location of various aquifers and groundwater gradients to monitor water quality over time.

Project #3 Surface Water Analysis
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for determining what areas will be considered flood-plain and consequently subject to specific regulation. New stormwater regulations combined with recent flood related disasters throughout California and the nation have resulted in re-evaluation of the definition of floodplains. The area containing the U.S. Borax open pit mine and waste piles include historic drainages designated as FEMA flood plains. During recent permitting review for future expansion, Kern County requested that FEMA designated floodplains be re-evaluated to determine the risk of flooding to the proposed expansion. They also requested that a comprehensive stormwater management plan be developed to mitigate negative impacts.
      A determination that the operation was located within a flood- plain would have required major modification and great costs to address potential flood scenarios related to 10, 50, and 100 year storm events. It was, therefore necessary to develop a response that accurately depicted the site and enabled quantitative analysis of variables associated with flood analysis.
      Maps including the U.S. Borax site and surrounding area were generated in GIS format to provide for the evaluation of surface water drainage characteristics (Figure 5). Topography was overlain with area geology, soils, and hydrologic basins were identified. Storm water run-off coefficients were calculated and site hydrology examined. Area background maps were imported to PenMap and then taken to the field for updating. Once map updating was completed, information was exported to ArcView version 2.0 for analysis in conjunction with the HEC 1 surface hydrology modeling program.
      The project established that the developed stormwater management plan would effectively mitigate and manage any potential flood waters. It further established that FEMA floodplain designation was not warranted. This use of GIS alone was responsible for saving the company very high costs and extensive time for site modifications that would otherwise have been necessary to comply with FEMA flood plain restrictions.

Project # 4 Scheduling and Placement of Mine Waste Rock Materials
The U.S. Borax facility, like other property owners, has a limited land area for conducting operations. The operation generates large quantities of overburden and non-ore bearing materials that require storage areas for continuation of mining. Operations may be subject to change from time to time due to changes in ore grade, market demand for the products, geotechnical constraints in the mine or other mine production or operating conditions. The build-out of the overburden and waste rock storage areas are dynamic and planning must accommodate changes while adhering to land ownership boundary constraints.
      Figure 4 is an example of how mine production of ore is used to develop GIS for scheduling the timing and physical placement of waste rock at the site.

Summary
In each of the projects discussed, limited data were available at the beginning of the project activity. Information that was available could not be provided in a format appropriate for computer analysis. It was, therefore, necessary to undertake data conversion and updating prior to use for various project analysis. Using the technologies discussed in this article, a cost effective survey, mapping, GIS data collection and analysis program was developed as part of other technical work programs using the PenMap, ARC/INFO, ArcCad, and ArcView software products. Much like CAD, GIS was used as a tool to support engineers, geologists, and environmental scientists to produce work products as one aspect of their project activity. U.S. Borax benefited both by completion of the technical work undertaken but also by the development of a GIS that can now continue to be expanded for a wide variety of site planning as well as operations control and analysis. Potentially high capital and operating costs for creating a GIS from scratch were avoided and client confidence in the value of the GIS was established.

About the Author:
Barry Hillman is president and CEO of Condor Earth Technologies Inc. Condor would like to express appreciation to Gerald M. Pepper, Arthur Beckerman, Joseph Siefke, Tony Teske, Cliff Maddox and the other members of the U.S. Borax operation who participated in and contributed to the programs discussed in this article. Condor personnel and associates responsible for directing and participating in the programs discussed here are Dr. Donald Bishop, vice president and project manager, Ronald Skaggs, Scott Lewis, Robert Hoagland, Debra Lewis, Glen Nunnelley, David Meade, Michael Meade, and Howard Ericksen and Dr. Alvin Franks.

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