The rare-earth mineral mine in Mountain Pass, Calif., run by Molycorp.
(Credit: Jay Greene/CNET)
MOUNTAIN PASS, Calif. -- About 60 miles southwest of Las Vegas, in a mine some 500-feet deep, the beginnings of an iPhone come to life.
But the sleek, shiny iPhone is far, far removed from the rocks pulled out of this giant hole, which looks like a deep crater on the moon. A very deep crater. The ground is covered with rust-colored boulders, rocks, and pebbles. The walls etched with striations in varying shades of black, are notched, every 75 feet or so, creating steps that only a giant could use to climb out of the pit.
The base of the mine is several football fields wide. Massive yellow excavators pull huge clumps of dirt from the earth, depositing them into equally giant haulers. And on this baking hot July day, when the temperatures approach 100 degrees, a geyser of water is shooting from a truck, in a never-ending bid to tamp down the dust.
From rocks to recycling: The life of an iPhone
Yesterday: We looked at the human toll of creating iPhones, and the activists pushing to improve working conditions.
Inside the rocks from this mine are rare-earth minerals, crucial ingredients for iPhones, as well as wind turbines, hybrid cars, and night-vision goggles. Minerals such as neodymium are used in magnets that make speakers vibrate to cr... [Read more]
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