WEBVTT

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NARRATOR: 10,000
years ago, earthquakes

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stop the flow of rivers.

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It's now known as Deception
Valley, the Twilight

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Zone of the Kalahari.

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The lake stalled and fresh
water turned to brine.

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It formed salt flats
the size of Portugal.

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They look dead as the moon,
but minerals buried here

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help Botswana's economy thrive.

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Soda ash is a vital
global commodity.

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And this factory is one
of the largest producers

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of the chemical compound.

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It's mainly used to
manufacture glass.

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But medicine and
industrial chemicals

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are other applications
for soda ash.

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It's extracted by pumping
brine out of the deep wells

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sunk into underground aquifers.

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From there, it moves
through a series

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of vast evaporation ponds.

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The factory produces
close to 800,000

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tons of soda ash every year.

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And large quantities
of pure table salt.

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These trucks
collect the raw salt

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and dump it here to be
processed for human consumption.

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This giant factory is
necessary to produce minerals

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on an industrial scale.

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But these small buildings are
clues to a story of a once

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famous mining boom town.

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In 1865, rumors of gold deposits
in the south of Botswana

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garnered international
attention.

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Prospector Karl Mauch
scoured the area for gold.

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He discovered a gold field on
the banks of the Tati River.

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The Alluvian gold field
stretched for 80 miles.

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It was hailed as
Africa's [INAUDIBLE],,

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a place renowned as a
source of large quantities

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of gold of the finest quality
during biblical times.

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Prospector's flooded
the area, hailing

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from Australia to America.

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In a few years, a small village
rose on the banks of the river

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and was named Francistown.

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At the time, the
town was nothing

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but one Main Street lined
with Western-style saloons.

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Blue Jacket Street was the
original road through the town

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and is named after Sam
Anderson, a prospector

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who gained fame for always
wearing his blue denim jacket.

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