Evaporation ponds at the Arad Phosphate Mine. Resources in
the Negev include copper, iron, manganese, phosphates, and uranium. The Arad
facility mines the highest grade phosphates, with estimates of between thirty
and sixty thousand tons of uranium contained in low-level phosphate ores.
Established in 1952, the Arad site is adjacent to the Dimona Nuclear Research
Center, constructed in secret beginning in 1958 with French assistance. The
airspace over the nuclear research center is closed, and the area around it is
heavily guarded and fenced off. Bedouin tribes are kept 15 to 20 kilometers from
the fence.

From the publication The
Erasure Trilogy, Volume 4: Desert Bloom (Notes) (Göttingen:
Steidl, 2015).