If it was the Mountain Pass mine I believe it was working and still worked for a long time after this lady was found. I know it's Wiki.
Mountain Pass mine - Wikipedia
History[edit]
The Mountain Pass mine dominated worldwide REE production from the 1960s to the 1980s (USGS).
The Mountain Pass deposit was discovered in 1949 by Herbert S. Woodward, Clarence Watkins and P. A. Simon, who noticed anomalously high radioactivity.
[7] Molybdenum Corporation of America bought most
[8] of the mining claims, and began small-scale production in 1952.
Production expanded greatly in the 1960s, to supply demand for
europium used in color television screens. Between 1965 and 1995, the mine supplied most of the worldwide rare-earth metals consumption.
[9]
Molybdenum Corporation of America changed its name to
Molycorp in 1974. The corporation was acquired by
Union Oil in 1977, which in turn became part of
Chevron Corporation in 2005.
[10]
In 1998, the mine's separation plant ceased production of refined rare earth compounds; it continued to produce bastnäsite concentrate.
[11]
The mine closed in 2002 due to environmental restrictions and competition from Chinese suppliers, though processing of previously mined ore continued.
[12]
In 2008, Chevron sold the mine to privately held Molycorp Minerals LLC, a company formed to revive the Mountain Pass mine. Molycorp announced plans to spend $500 million to reopen and expand the mine, and on July 29, 2010, it raised about $400 million through an
initial public offering, selling 28,125,000 shares at $14 under the ticker symbol MCP on the New York Stock Exchange.
[13]
In December 2010, Molycorp announced that it had secured all the environmental permits needed to build a new ore processing plant at the mine; construction would begin in January 2011, and was expected to be completed by the end of 2012. On August 27, 2012, the company announced that mining had restarted.
The processing plant was in full production on June 25, 2015, when Molycorp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with outstanding bonds in the amount of $US 1.4 billion. The company's shares were removed from the NYSE.
In August 2015, it was reported that the mine was to be shut down.
etc.
About MP Materials
Here is also a historical timeline.
About MP Materials
This is about the Blue Buzzard mine.
Blue Buzzard
Here is the Blue Buzzard mine located. They mined lead and silver.
Still hard to tell the exact location where she was found. I agree with you, possible somebody who knew about the mines instead of just driving around in the Mojave dessert looking for a dumping place and stumbled onto the/a mine. How would you access the Blue Buzzard mine with a vehicle, I wonder? I can't see a murderer taking her on the shoulders and bringing her there. My thinking is she was found closer to the main road.
On this picture there seems to be some kind of road. More evidence that this wasn't an at random dumping?
Google Maps
e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x6ca10396e8793817!8m2!3d35.43806!4d-115.53528
