Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Rare Metals, Arizona


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Legoktm (talk) 03:49, 23 November 2022 (UTC)

Rare Metals, Arizona

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

This "no it isn't a populated place" is an excellent (that is, depressing) example of how failures in the GNIS compilation process combined with mechanical copying on our part to create a junk article. Although the spot in question does show, in some aerials, a nice small street grid with residences, GMaps and any aerial view past the 1990s shows a bunch of foundations, which isn't surprising, because you're looking at the remnants of a major ecological cleanup. The black polygon on the south side of the road is the cap over the place where Rare Metals Corporation mined uranium for about a decade, in the process contaminating the surrounding area, including the houses they built for their workers. All of this is documented, if inadequately, in the Tuba City, Arizona article, and the DoE refers to this as the "Tuba City site". I considered just redirecting this, but for two things: first, it's not terribly clear that people actually called this place "Rare Metals", and (b) there is at least one other Rare Metals mine, this one in Mojave County and, I believe, not owned by the same company. And while there's a lot written about the mining and its cleanup, a lot of that uses it as an example of the wider phenomenon of uranium mining in the area; when all is said and done, expansion of the passage in the Tuba City article is more appropriate than a separate article. I'm open to other resolutions, but as it is I think this needs to be deleted as being innacurate and misleading. Mangoe (talk) 22:30, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Geography and Arizona. Shellwood (talk) 22:50, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep This was a small company town built by the mill. There are sources that refer to it as Rare Metals, Arizona (the mine in Mohave county is Rare Metals Mine). This refers to it as a place and has photos of Navajo living there after the mine closed. Here it is called a company town and says "For decades Navajo lived in these homes after the mill closed". This is congressional testimony that says "I presently live at Rare Metals..." MB 06:12, 15 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I personally am dubious about this as a town, as by all appearances (and IIRC some of the sources) it consisted only of the two sets of houses and no other buildings; it comes across as more of a "company subdivision". I'll also note that the references to it as "Rare Metals" as a town all come after the fact. My inclination at this point is to expand the section in Tuba City on the site and make this a redirect to that section; the problem remains that it is the former mine that was the notable thing, and these few houses are just an adjunct to it. Mangoe (talk) 13:06, 22 November 2022 (UTC)


 * Keep per MB, appears to have been populated. Djflem (talk) 11:38, 15 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep: per @MB MurrayGreshler (talk) 00:55, 18 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep one notable WP:NTEMP Bruxton (talk) 21:54, 22 November 2022 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.