Minerals and Uses
Common borate salts include sodium metaborate, NaBO2, and borax. Borax is quite soluble in water, so mineral deposits only occur in places with very low rainfall. Extensive deposits were found in Death Valley and transported out using the famous twenty-mule teams (1883 to 1889). Later (1925), deposits were found at Boron, California on the edge of the Mojave Desert. The Atacama Desert in Chile also contains mineable borate concentrations.
Lithium metaborate or lithium tetraborate, or a mixture of both, can be used in borate fusion sample preparation of various samples for analysis by XRF, AAS, ICP-OES, ICP-AES and ICP-MS. Borate fusion and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry with polarized excitation have been used in the analysis of contaminated soils.
Disodium octaborate tetrahydrate is used as wood preservatives or fungicide. Zinc borate is used as a flame retardant.
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