148 MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
In Los Angeles County, facilities were completed at four refineries to increase
capacity and construction was underway at three refineries with completion
dates scheduled for 1968. At yearend Humble Oil & Refining Co. was approaching
the halfway point in the construction of its new 72,000-barrel-per-day Benecia
refinery, Solano County. Completion was scheduled for the first quarter of
1969. 
 
NONMETALS 
 
 Asbestos.—About 63 percent of domestic asbestos production came from
California mines despite a decline from 1966 levels of nearly 6 percent in
sales by the State's producers. Chrysotile asbestos fiber was produced by
four companies—Pacific Asbestos Corp., Calaveras County; Atlas Minerals
Corp. and Coalinga Asbestos Co., Fresno County; and Union Carbide Corp.,
San Benito County. The San Benito County output was processed by Union Carbide
in a Monterey County plant. Pacific Asbestos, the State's major producer,
prepared and shipped groups 4, 5, 6, and 7 fiber; the other producers milled
group 
7 fiber only. Most of the processed asbestos was used in the manufacture
of pipe, sheet, and tile for the construction industry. 
 
 Barite.—Production and shipments of crude barite dropped 37 and 33
percent, respectively, below 1966 figure's. Although production was reported
from eight properties in five counties, a high percentage of the total came
from the Castella (Loftus claims) deposit of Yuba Minerals & Milling
Co., Shasta County, and the Embree property, Tulare County. Receipts of crude
barite at grinding plants were 3 percent lower but shipments of ground barite
rose 21 percent. Five grinding plants—one each in Los Angeles, Sacramento,
Kern, Fresno, and Sutter Counties—were active in 1967 and operated
principally on crude barite supplied by Nevada producers. Less than one-third
of the ground barite output from California plants came from crude mined
within the State. Nearly 96 percent of all ground barite sold was used in
well drilling muds. The barium chemicals plant of FMC Corp., Stanislaus County,
was operated on crude barite produced at the company's Nevada mine. 
 Boron Minerals and ' Compounds.—Borate deposits in Kern and Inyo Counties,
and brines from Searles Lake, San Bernardino County, yielded all the domestic
production of boron minerals and compounds. In Inyo County, colemanite was
mined by Kern County Land Co. and United States Borax & Chemical Corp.,
and ulexite by the latter. U.S. Borax refined crude borates from the company
open-pit mine, Kern County, in plants in Kern and Los Angeles Counties. American
Potash & Chemical Corp., division of KerrMcGee Corp., and Stauffer Chemical
Co. extracted boron compounds from brines in plants at Searles Lake. Stauffer
also produced high-purity ' boron chemicals, in its San Fransicso plant,
from purchased Kern County borates. Quantity and value increases, over 1966,
were attributed to outputs of borax and rasorite, the latter a partially
refined product produced for sale and for further refining. 
 
 Bromine and Bromine ' Compounds.— American Potash & Chemical Corp.,
Division of Kerr-McGee Corp., recovered elemental bromine from Searles Lake
brines in the company plant at Trona, San Bernardino County, and sold it
to manufacturers of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. FMC Corp. extracted elemental
bromine from saltworks bitterns and converted it to ethylene dibromide in
its Newark plant, Alameda County, for sale principally as a soil fumigant.
Production dropped 43 percent below that of 1966. 
 
 Calcite (Optical Grade).—The optical grade calcite property near Mount
Baldwin, Mono County, was idle throughout 1967. 
 
 Calcium Chloride.—Liquid calcium chloride was recovered from Bristol
Lake brine, San Bernardino County, by Leslie Salt Co. and National Chloride
Company of America, and well brine was recovered by Chloride Products, Inc.
and Imperial Thermal Products Co., a new producer, near Calipatria, Imperial
County. Hill Bros. Chemical Co. prepared a flake product, from purchased
liquid, in a plant near Bristol Lake. More liquid product was produced than
in 1966 but the output of flakes was virtually unchanged. The Bristol Lake
products were sold to chemical companies for use a a hygroscopic agent and
a fireproofing material, and to help processors. The Imperial County liquid
product