But its products include more than borates: next door at the Borax Visitor Center, the product is education.

There, school children can expand their classroom to the outside world: they can feel borax with their hands, see the 650-foot deep pit with their eyes, and learn about an important industry.

Rio Tinto Minerals - Boron Operations opened the visitor center in 1997 to teach the public about modern mining and the important role that minerals play in their daily lives.

Since then, more than 20,000 youngsters have taken field trips to the visitor center to learn about minerals and mining. Of the 10,000 plus visitors to the center in 2007, about 2,000 of them were students. The center has had 1,000 students so far this year.

"It opens them up to what is in rock and they get to see the open pit mine and the large trucks that go throughout the world," said Sheila Amento, visitor center store manager.

The visitor center's interior was created to look like an underground mining tunnel: the dark, domed walls add to the experience. Field trips start with a 17-minute video describing the history of borax and the company, and continues on through modern mining processes, explaining how borates are used and how they are transported to the world.

A quiz after the film, requires students to find answers as they go through the six exhibits.

Exhibits include displays on mining and geology, the refining process, product distribution, examples of the products that contain borates, safety, environmental and community programs and a bit about Boron's heritage and its connection to Death Valley.

Outside, students can see the mile-wide, two-mile-long pit from two viewpoints: one just east of the center and one on top of it.

The view is breathtaking. As one student exclaimed during a field trip Wednesday, the pit is "bigger than the Grand Canyon," recounted Stephanie Juvé, the student's first-grade teacher at Bailey Elementary on Edwards Air Force Base.

Juvé has brought her students on field trips to the visitor center 10 out of the last 12 years.

"The kids' eyes get so big when they see the huge pit and the big wheels on the trucks. Of course their favorite thing is the samples of borax and getting in the tire," Juvé said.

To Juvé, the field trip is a great opportunity for hands-on learning.

"It's such a great resource. It gets us out of the classroom, it's hands on. This way it's actually visual and they get to touch the borax."

The field trip fulfills California social studies requirements, which include learning about transportation methods of earlier times, identifying specialized work that other people do to manufacture, market and transport goods, and learning about a community and its workers.

Her students love the trip, Juvé said. One commented, "This is the best day! We should do this again." Another student exclaimed to her, "We should come every day!"

It's important for the children to learn about community industry - especially the mines, the teacher said - "because they're a part of it. This is where they live, it's a part of history, and a lot of parents didn't even realize it was here."

"Overall, it's just rewarding and the kids enjoyed it. That's what it's all about, them getting excited about learning and their little lights turning on," Juvé said.

Pam Scott, another first-grade teacher at Bailey, also brought 18 students on the Wednesday field trip. "I think it's important for children to see an industrial business in their neighborhood," Scott said.

"It's nice for them to see older people, too. Just for them to see how people volunteer in their community to help out."

To help schools deal with costs of transportation amidst continual budget cuts, Boron Operations developed a transportation grant program. It is aimed at schools in Kern County, Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita, but is available to any public school.

Boron Operations reimburses up to $350 per school, per school year to help cover transportation costs for a field trip.

The visitor center has a retail store focusing on mining and mineral education materials, and sells everything from $1 mineral samples to mineral jewelry, novelties and books.

Money raised from the visitor center is allocated by the Borax Visitor Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to benefit other community nonprofit organizations and Boron high school students. This year the foundation will give out $25,000 in grants and $8,000 in scholarships, said Nancy LaMoureaux, former community affairs representative for the Boron Operations.

The youth are an important part of the community, Amento said. "We have a lot of years left projected in the mine, and a lot of residents here work at the mines."

"It's something that's been grandfathers, fathers, sons and daughters. And that's what this community is made up of. We're borax families here."

Field trips are free; reservations should be made in advance. To schedule a date, call (760) 762-7588. Normal business hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, excluding major holidays.

For non-school trips, a donation of $2 per car, $10 per bus and $1 per motorcycle is encouraged.