MINING FIRM TO OPEN BORON VISITORS CENTER.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Calling it a gift to the community and a birthday gift to themselves, U.S. Borax opened a $1 million visitor center Friday.

The 6,000-square-foot visitors center was unveiled in a ceremony attended by east Kern County and Edwards Air Force Base officials and by students from West Boron Elementary School. The visitors center will be open to the public beginning Monday.

The visitors center was dedicated as part of the company's 125th anniversary celebration.

``It's a birthday gift to our community, to ourselves and to the future,'' said Ian White-Thomson, chairman and chief executive of U.S. Borax.

The visitors center is composed of two adjoining Quonset huts covered by dirt. Having the center underground protects the building from heat and wind and gives visitors a feeling of being in a mine.

The Boron mine was underground until 1957 when it was converted to an open-pit operation.

Outside the center is a life-size representation of a 20-mule team, the transportation system used more than a century ago for taking ore 165 miles from Death Valley to the railroad at Mojave. The route went right past the sodium borate ore deposits that the company would begin mining in 1927.

The first thing a visitor sees inside the center is a massive chunk of sodium borate ore, roughly 3 feet in diameter. The center has photos of the mine and the processing of the ore and models of various parts of the mine operations.

Another exhibit shows a sample of home products that use borax, ranging from laundry soaps to pottery to insulation in the walls.

In one area of the center there is a big screen TV showing highlights of the 1960s program ``Death Valley Days,'' which featured future U.S. President Reagan promoting Boraxo cleaners.

A 104-seat theater shows a video on the mine and borax. A window at the rear of the theater looks out on the 650-foot deep, 1-mile long, half-mile wide open pit mine.

The visitors center has two goals, said Preston Chiaro, senior vice president of operations at Boron for U.S. Borax.

The first is to educate children about the mining industry. The second goal is to tie into the community of Boron's efforts to attract visitors.

People who visit the center will be encouraged to visit the Twenty Mule Team Museum in Boron.

The visitors center will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through April. In May, the hours will be extended to 6 p.m.

The visitors center will be closed for major holidays and during bad weather.

Entrance fees are $1 for motorcycles, $2 for cars and $10 for tour buses. All fees will go to support local programs. There is no admission charge for organized school groups or for current or retired U.S. Borax employees.