Miners and other locals gather at the union hall in Boron, a Kern County town that centers on its borax mine. Borax is to Boron what automobiles are to Detroit. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Rio Tinto, which owns the mine, employs some 720 people in Boron -- more than one-third of the town’s population. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Boron residents rally outside the borax mine. Contract negotiations have been rocky. Fear of a strike looms large, and Rio Tinto has threatened a lockout. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“We want to see Boron survive, but we want to work with them as a partner and not as a company town,” says Robert Deal, the mine’s director of research and development. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Rio Tinto operates on five continents. The mining giant’s profit plummeted recently -- it reported $2.5 billion in net earnings for the first half of last year, down 65% from the same period in 2008. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Domingo Gutierrez greets customers at his restaurant, which bears a sign supporting the miners. “Nobody wins if we don’t compromise,” he said of the dispute. “There is too much at stake.” (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Dean Gehring, general manager of the mine, insists he has no interest in breaking the union but says big changes are needed to stay competitive. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
“Its a very scary time,” says Rose Fowlkes, a miner’s wife and a mother of four. “We just moved here and bought a house, and now they are talking about changing things.” (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Snapshots of people from Boron are on display at the K & L Corral diner. “It was a good company town,” a restaurant patron and former miner recalled. “We were all a big family.” (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
