What Did Google Earth Spot In the Chinese Desert?

New submitter snooz_crash writes "An Ex-CIA analyst requests your assistance in IDing a base that he has been observing for quite a while. The base has been in existence for several years, but its shape and location do not lead to an immediate answer to the riddle of 'what the heck is it?'"

Comments

Isn't it obvious?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a cleverly designed denial of service attack against the CIA/NSA/etc. By making them waste time trying to figure out what this base is, they're keeping them from discovering actual information.

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[Dishwasha]

And here I thought it was our base that r belong to the Chinese.

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[TWX]

It's a snow cone machine.

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[jamstar7]

Naw, it's Jimmy Hoffa's tomb.

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[CodeBuster]

Is it a water heater?

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[torsmo]

Most of Google-Earth's revenue comes from conspiracy-theorists searching for the next Roswell.

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[ravyne]

Technically they do--they just haven't called in on our foreign debt yet.

Re:Isn't it obvious?

[jamstar7]

"That was no flying saucer, it was a top secret Army spy balloon we used to eavesdrop on the Russkies!"

Funny, though, ain't it, that they haul out a top secret project to explain a UFO crash.

It can't be an underground complex

[Synerg1y]

Too obvious...

Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

Factory on the left, dorms on the right. Nothing to see here.

Re:Factory

[CanHasDIY]

Factory on the left, dorms on the right. Nothing to see here.

Sooo...

Newest Foxconn facility?



Where are the roof nets?

Re:Factory

[rasmusbr]

If that were the case you'd expect the road to run straight from the dorm building to the factory and not take a half kilometer detour on it's way there. It looks like the plan is for traffic to run between the town to the south and the various sites at the complex with little traffic going between sites.

Here's a clue: the two units under construction to the right of the "dorm" look like what I imagine two coal fired power units under construction would look like. Some of the larger open-air structures around the area look like "transformer stations" (or whatever they actually are) under construction.

Re:Factory

[colin_faber]

I was thinking this as well, with the largest earthen structure possibly the start of a impound pond for cooling

Re:Factory

[icebike]

look like what I imagine two coal fired power units under construction would look like.

Its probably just a mining operation, of some kind because there is no major transport, no huge power lines, no stacks, convener belt systems. (Coal fired plants would have all of those, and aren't nearly so spread out).

No major rail lines.
No paved roads, just low traffic low speed gravel roads (90 degree corners etc).
Only the eastern most group of buildings seems to be fenced

There are "tailing pile" looking like humps, but not nearly enough for this to be a high burden mine requiring massive material removal, unless they are dumping the tailing back down the mine. There appear to be fields of spread out tailings with lots of bulldozer marks just east of the blue topped building.

The lack of security, transport, massive power, and distance to population centers (which themselves are not that big) all suggest small mining operations, perhaps by several different organizations.

Nothing was there in 2009, so it may be still in the process of drilling to deep ore bodies, and not actually in production yet.
The thing about desert areas is every little truck track shows up forever.

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

THe fact it's in a dessert made me think that it's a building to house water. Not a water tower or indoor artificial lake, but maybe a waste treatment plant or something like that. You need to build infrastructure to support people if you are going to build towns and cities, and China is building ghost cities in preparation for the upcoming global crisis (when the US collapses, SSEZ - Shenzhen, will go down with it - so much of that area is dedicated to Hong Kong production and US company outsourcing, and the millions living there - many illegals, will want to flee). So having pre-built cities that are empty, something the US sees as stupid, will let the government step in and give 10,000,000 jobs to people to run the empty cities, then millions more will follow them with services and support, cleaning out the localities that are in crisis. They don't have enough space for the people flocking to the cities now, so expanding, even if only by pre-making cities, makes sense. At least, it will in 10 years when the US defaults on the debt and the world economy routes around the damage.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

The debt is denominated in dollars. The U.S. can print as many dollars as it wants. How could it ever default?

Re:Factory

[History's Coming To]

Roof nets are more expensive than replacement workers, they're only used to save the share price from falling when people complain about high suicide rates, catching the workers is just a side-effect.

Re:Factory

[ElectricTurtle]

That is one of the dumbest theories I've ever heard. Whether or not a severe trade drought with the US will happen is immaterial, the idea that SE China will suddenly want to migrate west is absurd. An economic downturn in the SE cannot in any way lead to an economic upturn in China's west. Downturns are downturns, and the whole reason that infrastructure exists in the SE is because it's logistically better for trading, period. Not just trading with the US, but trading with the whole world. What nonsense.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

Not just that, but they can do that without actually devaluing the currency too. As long as they can mint platinum coins and write anything they want on them.

Re:Factory

[Anachragnome]

I think you are correct--the geography and topography give it away.

If you'll look at the image with the least zoom, you'll see that the facility is built at the edge where two different alluvial fans intersect--the "softer", darker soil is the newer alluvial fan that has eroded down into the much older deposits. There is also a natural formation that runs along this boundary that appears to be a dike--a naturally formed wall--that extends down into the earth. It kind of looks like the Great Wall of China if it were to be viewed top down.

The boundary between these two alluvial fans is essentially a cliff that has exposed the lower layers of of the older deposits at the top of the images. This is an ideal location to find exposed deposits, deposits that otherwise would have been hidden far beneath the ground had erosion not exposed it.

I suspect this is a "dry mining" facility that is going to be mining some substance from this location. That dike is important--since the flow of that alluvial fan appears to come from the top of the map, that means the dike would act as a sort of "trap", much like the riffles in a miner sluice-box--heavier elements would become trapped behind the dike while lighter material flowed over the top to be washed away by the lower elevation alluvial erosion. Much of the excavation in the images that is not associated with a structure appears to be centered around this dike.

The long structures, located in several locations, appear to have individual units inside them (some of them are in construction and have not yet had a roof installed, allowing you to see what appear to be shallow pits, one after the other, lined up inside). These could be "shakers", what amount to a crude centrifuge that uses gravity instead of centrifugal force, to perform an initial separation of materials. Normally, heavy metals are separated in centrifuges after being mixed into a slurry, but that would be difficult in this location--I don't see a drop of surface water in any of these images. That being said, processing would be focused on methods that used as little water as possible.

Another clue is the large "U"-shaped building. This building is located centrally, downhill from the majority of the other operations and has another interesting feature--several small structures that are located a ways away, but have clearly visible tracks (construction or merely vehicle marks) that all lead back to that building. I suspect these are well-heads that tap water located underneath the floodplain that the facility is located on. This water would be used for final separation in centrifuges located inside the main building. The central gate-like feature could be the final distribution point of a two-armed processing facility.

So, my guess is either barium mine, or a lithium mine. Any heavy metal, really, even gold. Any dry-mining facility would look similar at this stage of development--the tailing piles visible are just the start (sample shafts). The real tailing piles will show up once the facility is active.

Interesting considering this article:
http://science.slashdot.org/story/13/01/09/0449218/worldwide-shortage-of-barium

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

If I'm in the top 1% and I have $10,000,000,000 in cash in the bank (silly, but this is just an example), and the government prints $100,000,000,000,000 to pay off the debt, then the flood of money will devalue mine.

In addition to my money being worth 1/10th what it was yesterday, people will want to sell their dollars because it's "unstable", so the demand on the dollar will fall, so it'll take more of them to buy a Chinese widget. Domestic inflation may stabilize after the initial inflation, but international effects will be huge. At least at the end, the US will be able to manufacture for a profit because of the weak currency. But the effect is not controllable by the US government. What is controllable is to default. The government can pick a patricular security held by a particular person (or country) and select to not pay it off. Poof, debt gone, and no inflation, no drop in dollar. Though I would expect that would create a sell-off of T-bills, so the budget must be in the black before the first default. But the results are much more controllable.

There's no "need" to default when they can print their way out of trouble, but the effects on the economy are different, so they are both valid options. Why would you devalue your currency to print your way out of debt when you could simply not pay it back?

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

So there's no reason for there to be cities there now, but there are. And with the high speed trains, the distance is getting less meangful. Why are there so many people in Atlanta? It's nowhere. What, all there for the peach plantations? Many large cities started from nothing. The only thing you need is water, and even Phoenix didn't need that.

Shanghai and Hong Kong are trade cities. But the quickest route to Paris is now over land, not water. So the west is a good trading place, take the trains west, not the boats east. If the US isn't a trading partner anymore, then you don't need the ports of Guanzhou and Hong Kong areas nearly as much.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

Defaulting on the debt would also devalue the dollar. Dollar bills are US government debt just as much as treasury bills are, so devaluing one will affect the other.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

"I suspect this is a "dry mining" facility that is going to be mining some substance from this location."

Yes, probably. Particularly the western part of the facility (near the U-shaped building you mention), but there isn't a lot of earth-moving equipment around, not much ground has been disturbed yet (as you mention, not much in terms of tailings, and not much in terms of pit or shaft excavation yet either), and many of the buildings are under construction. So, maybe it is *soon* to be opened as a major mine, but not quite yet. I'm also wondering if it is something simpler in terms of product: clay, and that we are looking at a brickworks in the process of being built.

"Normally, heavy metals are separated in centrifuges after being mixed into a slurry, but that would be difficult in this location--I don't see a drop of surface water in any of these images."

There is a river delta and artificial lake about a km to the east, and south of facility there is substantial irrigated farmland.

Re:Factory

[Anachragnome]

"... but there isn't a lot of earth-moving equipment around, not much ground has been disturbed yet..."

Actually, there is. Most of it is located in the lighter area towards the top of the map--it is hard to see them, but that place is littered with many little roads. Most of these end at some excavation--the deposits are coming from the top of the map and are then being brought down these roads to the facilities.

Aye, I noticed the water as well. But it is already being used for the very reasons you stated--irrigation and the town downstream. Wet-mining uses massive amounts of water and leaves you with lakes of toxic slurry to get rid of--there is nowhere to get rid of something like that but flush it downstream right into town. Dry-mining solves this issue.

The "U"-shaped building has a pretty extensive ramp going up the dike to the row buildings--It wouldn't surprise me if a large conveyor belt is constructed down this ramp, connecting the two structures.

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

Dollars aren't government debt. There's no promise behind them. Sadly, that fact makes them more secure and stable than as fiat currency.

Re:Factory

[phantomfive]

Why would you devalue your currency to print your way out of debt when you could simply not pay it back?

Historically, these two have gone hand-in-hand. That is, governments that can't pay their debts also frequently have trouble funding anything without just printing money.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

> THe fact it's in a dessert made me think
> that it's a building to house water.

It might contain water, but if it's in a dessert its main ingredient is probably sugar.

Re:Factory

[adolf]

Perhaps it's mining.

But there's what plainly looks like a military installation just to the southwest of the place, with what seems obvious to be a test track for some manner of tracked vehicle.

For reference, this is what the manufacturer's test track for the Abrams tank looks like in Lima, Ohio.

Zooming in on the Lima site reveals the exact same sort of pattern as that in China.

But then again, when looking around the neighboring city I see a lot of stuff that is hard to explain, so who knows...

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

It's hard to jump to your death off of the roof of an underground factory.

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

I never said they wouldn't do both. I'm just picking the least damaging and asserting at least that would happen (and hopefully only that). If worse happens, then I'm more right, not wrong because everything I predicted came true, just the flood came in the window rather than the door. The US still has a large amount of actual value, it's just horribly mismanaged in getting the work translated into government value (we pay more money per taxpayer to cover 20% of the country with bad health care than the UK pays per taxpayer to cover 100% of the country with adequate health care). We had the libertarian revolution in 1776, and it lead to a civil war, massive monopoly abuses in the late 1800s, and the great depression (an artifact of WWI boom eventually running out, with no controls or oversight to attempt to even out the free markets wild and damaging swings). Since then, we've seen more liberal governments come into power and do better than us. The great experiment of the USA is at an end. "light" socialism is the answer. But the people of the US are too much like the ones the Founding Fathers refused to give the vote to, and they vote in people who do them harm, because they tell them nice things at the same time they do the opposite (both parties back to Truman at least, with the possible exceptions of Carter and Ford).

I would like the US voter to wake up and fix the country. But they don't want to. The talk show hosts are stirring the "down with the ship" attitude, with so many predicting the downfall (for various reasons, often conflicting) and none of them offering any other options. There is one. But it's impossible, so talking about it will just end in people telling me I'm wrong, and nothing happening, so I'll skip that.

Re:Factory

[phantomfive]

If worse happens, then I'm more right, not wrong because everything I predicted came true, just the flood came in the window rather than the door.

I wasn't saying you are wrong. You are wrong in everything else you say, but not that ;)

Re:Factory

[HornWumpus]

Quickest matters little. Quickest remains via jet airliner.

Lowest cost per ton is where it's at. Which is the ports.

Re:Factory

[dwye]

But the quickest route to Paris is now over land, not water.

But the cheapest way is still to ship things by ship, not plane or rail. Even if the USA was reduced to trade insignificance, the trading areas in the SE are still better situated to deal with India and East Africa (all those untapped resources, yum) than Western China, which hasn't been close to anywhere since the Silk Road closed down.

Why are there so many people in Atlanta? It's nowhere. What, all there for the peach plantations?

Sorry, but it is on a river. Probably the end of the navigable section (or at least once was -- inland cities often grow up at portages), and it grew up as a collection spot for the cotton plantations. Pre-Civil War, cotton was the biggest US export.

Many large cities started from nothing.

Barring Persepolis, Berlin, Washington DC, Riyadh, and Brasilia (all sacred capitals rather than pre-existing natural cities), name them.

The only thing you need is water, and even Phoenix didn't need that.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but my maps show Phoenix on the Salt River, a major tributary of the Gila River, a tributary of the Colorado, so before LA started sucking it all dry they had loads of water, probably even a navigable channel out to the Gulf Of California.

Cities grow up when people have a reason to stay THERE, rather than a day's journey or more away. They stay around when there is still a reason to stay there when things change (hence the lack of population in most Western ghost towns), or when the change is not big enough to make enough of a difference.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

So this site in China - is it good for debt or bad?

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

The US has a debt that is worse than Greece or Portugal or anyone else in trouble. We just have a GDP based on a bubble of optimism. When the "soft" industries (all the support and service industries and exportable out source-able ones) are gone, our GDP will be so small that we'll have the record debt-to-GDP ratio in the history of the planet. The crushing debt will be so obvious that there will be panic, and the government will do all sorts of horrible tricks to make the debt go away. Printing trillion dollar coins with C. Montgomery Burns' face on them will sound reasonable when that time comes.

I shouldn't have gotten a masters degree in business, all the economics study broke me, there's a reason people say "ignorance is bliss".

Re:Factory

[phantomfive]

A currency crisis is nothing new, it's a pain but we'll get through it. They happen every few decades, and civilization survives.

You do have some unusual ideas, for example, that China is building empty cities to house people after a collapse. That is a new idea, so while it sounds silly at first glance, I'm going to think about it for a while to see if there is something deeper.

I am most interested in your idea that "light" socialism is the answer, since that certainly hasn't been proven. It is as easy to imagine that such a thing would lead to ruin, along the lines of what Toqueville said, “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” What exactly do you mean by 'light' socialism, and why do you think it is the answer (presumably the question was "which government will survive?").

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

What exactly do you mean by 'light' socialism, and why do you think it is the answer (presumably the question was "which government will survive?").

Single payer health care is cheaper and better than what the US has now. As such, collective health care is like cheaper and better insurance. And so many programs like Head Start saves more money than it costs, so even a libertarian should like it, as it results in an overall smaller government. I consider myself a libertarian, but I agree with Libertarians on just about nothing. The issue is that I'm not the kind that believes in toll sidewalks and 100% private roads. Some things, like the post office, are socialist, and still explicitly enumerated in the Constitution. It always amuses me when the rabid constitutionalists ignore the parts of the Constitution they don't like. The libertarian fore-fathers *knew* there were some things the government should do. Like the post. And if they were doing it today, I firmly believe that they'd put health care in that lot. We all pay for the post offices and post roads. Communistic libertarians.

You do need to bribe them with their own money. "If you vote for me, I'll cut your health care costs in half - *and* improve the quality of care." Voting in UK-style NIH would do that, and that's a good bribe. "If you vote me in, I'll tax everyone but you and send you a check for $10,000,000" is a bad bribe. Bribing people with efficient government isn't a bribe. We don't have to deliver the worst possible government to pretend it isn't a bribe. The police are a "bribe", and even the most libertarian Libertarian believes in at least that one service, right?

I have trouble discussing what Libertarians belive. I've joined 3 different local LPs, but whenever I discuss my issues with them, someone on Slashdot asserts that it never happened because my characterizations were so far off from what they would like the LP message to be. I try to stick to libertarians (with the small L, and no P). but the problem there is I'm the opposite of the LP, but consider myself to be libertarian. There is apparently no such thing as a libertarian that believes in responsibility.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

Desertification.

The desert is creeping up on Beijing. Hopefully its progress will make it close to the sea, so the sand can flatten Beijing and make it unlivable - before the debt charade is called. Has anyone checked the rate of desert acceleration lately?
Rain/Water has moved, so has the weather, so predictions will be off the mark.

At some point they will either have to spend big dollars to stop it advancing, or relocate the city. Food security for the Chinese is a worry. Time to get that sand/brick factory going, the slaves, err labor will come later. Going to make the pyramids look insignificant.

Rejoice. This will be the Chinese version of the Berlin / Israeli great wall

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not how currency works. Since a dollar represents that the issuing government is in debt to you, the value of a dollar does not change based on how many of them there are, only based on how likely it is that the issuing government will back it. Your confidence in that government may wane a bit when they print more money, but I assure you that that feeling is not universal.

I guarantee you that the IRS will not stop destroying that debt any time soon.

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

Atlanta has the Chattahoochee river flowing through it, but by and large it is not a navigable river in anything other than canoe or kayak. Atlanta developed largely in part because of the numerous rail roads.

Re:Factory

[sbates]

Parent isn't interesting, it's a string of invalid arguments.

1. "Single payer health care is cheaper and better than what the US has now." Anybody from Canada (and I am) can attest that this is not an absolute truth by any means. Cheaper access to specialists results in sitting on waiting lists for months before essential treatment, because (a) the doctors have moved to more profitable countries; and (b) the state sets limits on the number and qualifications of doctors.

2. "And so many programs like Head Start saves more money...results in a smaller government." This likely refers to the oversight of a product or service, but Obama already addressed this: he could cut the cost of meat by half, if only he fired all the meat inspectors. That any program would be cheaper is debatable, as history has repeatedly seen presidents and leaders of countries around the world promising something would be cheaper, more successful, and result in smaller government. Yet the ideals of one man/woman cannot force all to agree, nor would agreement across all civil servants even result in common principles. Smaller government is unattainable simply by the imposition of different services.

3. "There is apparently no such thing as a libertarian that believes in responsibility" is simply a strawman, and a bad one. Calling yourself a lower-case L libertarian and making such a statement is awkward at best, but generalizations like this are no more effective than those of the rest of the political world.

Re:Factory

[sbates]

Slashdot incorrectly posted my reply above as a sibling to AK Marc's post, rather than a reply to it.

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

Anybody from Canada (and I am) can attest that this is not an absolute truth by any means. Cheaper access to specialists results in sitting on waiting lists for months before essential treatment, because (a) the doctors have moved to more profitable countries; and (b) the state sets limits on the number and qualifications of doctors.

I specified UK in my comments because of this. I'm not sure how it works in Canada, but in the UK, if you are on a wait list, you can buy your own doctor and get it done immediately. Doctors available for such private care are readily available. It's the best of both. That you are too cheap to pay for your own care doesn't mean that the wait for free care is any worse than the USA. Medical errors kill hundreds of thousands every year in the USA. That you hear only about the heroic/expensive saving of an occasional single life doesn't mean that the "regular" care isn't much worse than other places.

I've had surgery under socialized medicine outside the US, and inside the US with full medical insurance (fully insured still cost me thousands). In the US, I had complications because I was thrown out of the care center while sick (over my objections). Outside the US, I had to fight with the hospital to release me because they wanted to hold me longer to ensure no complications occurred (the only "bill" I got was a request for confirmation of eligibility for government cover, after the treatment).

This likely refers to the oversight of a product or service, but Obama already addressed this: he could cut the cost of meat by half, if only he fired all the meat inspectors.

My point (obviously too subtle for you to understand) is that if you do that to cut costs of meat, you increase government costs in care for all the people sick from the unsafe meat. I'm for whatever reduces the total cost, not what moves internal costs to external costs (apparently the libertarian motto).

"There is apparently no such thing as a libertarian that believes in responsibility" is simply a strawman, and a bad one. Calling yourself a lower-case L libertarian and making such a statement is awkward at best, but generalizations like this are no more effective than those of the rest of the political world.

Then, as a member of 3 separate LPs in 2 different states, I've never run across a Libertarian who believed in responsibility or cared about the content of the Constitution. They were all angry Republicans who wanted more government control, but in a manner to match their personal opinions on what the government should do. That their desires aligned with the other members of that group was a coincidence, and not because any of them believed in some underlying truth that they all fundamentally agreed with.

If you have disagreement with that, take it up with the LP members who made the LP seem like a bunch of gun nuts that would sell out any principles if it would let them buy guns (many of which bought gun dealer licenses solely so they could own fully automatic guns and silencers and such).

Oh, and Slashdot didn't "incorrectly" do anything. That you don't understand something, then, without thought, blame it on someone else seems to agree with your general posting style. Sufficiently indented threads no longer get intented. Click "parent" under your post, and it will correctly point to mine. But don't let facts get in the way of your rant, you haven't so far.

Re:Factory

[AK Marc]

Since a dollar represents that the issuing government is in debt to you, the value of a dollar does not change based on how many of them there are, only based on how likely it is that the issuing government will back it.

Back it with what?

Re:Factory

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are there so many people in Atlanta? It's nowhere. What, all there for the peach plantations?

Sorry, but it is on a river. Probably the end of the navigable section (or at least once was -- inland cities often grow up at portages), and it grew up as a collection spot for the cotton plantations. Pre-Civil War, cotton was the biggest US export.

Sorry but no Atlanta became a major city because it was at the end of a rail line. The river was not and is not navigable up to Atlanta on anything larger than a small fishing boat.

Re:Factory

[bhiestand]

Many large cities started from nothing.

Barring Persepolis, Berlin, Washington DC, Riyadh, and Brasilia (all sacred capitals rather than pre-existing natural cities), name them.

Los Angeles. Only city I am aware of, but it essentially started with real estate development. There are plenty of books about why it shouldn't exist... and I tend to agree with them. IIRC, it had a terrible natural harbor, insufficient water supply, no real natural resources, and wasn't on a major trade route.

Of course LA now has the film industry (and associated tourism), tons of manufacturing, imported water, and is a major trade hub. But those industries all came after the infrastructure was built or the political conditions pushed them to LA.

Re:Factory

[icebike]

Very interesting.

But it doesn't seem at all related to the location under discussion, any more than the adjacent rice paddies.

That airfield is a commercial airport. Stepping back in time using Google earth the only thing remotely military I saw was two choppers parked in the elephant ear on the west end back in 2005.

The Test Track is also interesting, because it didn't exist in 2009 either. That oval whole complex of concentric roads seems to be some sort of industrial park, half of which seems to be used for orchards (or something), (north half) ad that use dates back to 2002.

Work on the test track portion (the south east quarter of the oval) began in 2009, which is about the time that works started on the buildings under discussion.
Zooming in on the test track we see nothing but trucks, big open topped trucks, (gravel trucks, ore carriers, perhaps). Nothing remotely military looking, and lots of driving obstacle course exercises, parking exercises. Populated by trucks, not a single tracked vehicle in site. Not even a maintenance shop in site.

I think you've found a driving school. Probably to teach the farm boys to drive trucks, perhaps to drive trucks in support of that mining operation at some later point in time when its up and in production.

There is also what appears to be a new Agricultural School north east of the oval area. Has a playing field,as well as crop fields.

Re:Factory

[dwye]

Many large cities started from nothing.

Barring Persepolis, Berlin, Washington DC, Riyadh, and Brasilia (all sacred capitals rather than pre-existing natural cities), name them.

Los Angeles. Only city I am aware of, but it essentially started with real estate development. There are plenty of books about why it shouldn't exist... and I tend to agree with them. IIRC, it had a terrible natural harbor, insufficient water supply, no real natural resources, and wasn't on a major trade route.

It most certainly WAS on one, El Camino Royal (sp?). And while its harbor isn't much, neither are any other harbors between San Diego and San Francisco harbors. The California coast is almost as bad, in that respect, as the West coast of Africa (alas, no fyords until the next Earth). As for resources, it has OIL. In Hollywood, there is a special ordinance banning drilling, else there would be grasshoppers and derricks all over the place. Granted, LA shouldn't be any where as big as it is, and why the center is so far from the harbor I have never had explained, even by my sister who used to live there, but a city, there, makes sense (up to a few hundred thousand).

Re:Factory

[wvmarle]

But the quickest route to Paris is now over land, not water.

But the cheapest way is still to ship things by ship, not plane or rail.

The main reason not much international trade is done by rail (which could be rather cheap, actually) is the transit of other countries. Customs regulations are a bitch, and cargo has to be imported and exported time and again. That takes a lot of time and effort, causing delays, and increasing cost. Many countries require import and export licences for cargo even just for transiting in sealed containers. And that's the real killer of rail transport.

Cargo from western Russia (deep inland) is now transported by ship all the way around Europe to get to Hong Kong. The much more direct rail route is simply not an option.

Maybe....

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe that's why he's an ex-CIA analyst.

Re:Maybe....

[Anonymous Coward]

He hasn't been with the CIA since 1985. China isn't a closed off mysterious communist land of wonder any more. He could just ask them.

Looks like a mundane farm or factory or both to me.

Re:Maybe....

[tnk1]

Not necessarily. China may not be super secret squirrel any more about everything, but they still have plenty of secrets.

That said, it's probably a Wal-Mart.

Re:Maybe....

[X0563511]

Not to mention they could just lie. After all, he's just some schmuck in their eyes.

Re:Maybe....

[Art Challenor]

>That said, it's probably a Wal-Mart.

That's easy to check. Is it near a national monument?

Wal-Mart knew about Mexico bribery

Re:Maybe....

[aldm]

No, he is an ex seti@home analyst, and now tries to lure people into subscribing to cia@home

Re:Maybe....

[Anonymous Coward]

China may not be super secret squirrel any more about everything, but they still have plenty of secrets.

There are currently not enough nuts in the US to loosen the tongue of the China in these matters. No worries though, Walmart purchasers are already on it, sourcing the Chinese peanut production capacity.

Re:Maybe....

[Anonymous Coward]

Our first efforts at balancing the trade deficit didn't work so well.

Ummm.... maybe go there?

[mark-t]

You'd get a pretty good idea, I think... if you simply went to the area. If it's a secure location, you'd get some idea of what it is based on the type of people who are guarding the entrance.

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[Albanach]

Go there, who does that these days? Click street view and read what the sign above the door says.

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd get a pretty good idea, I think... if you simply went to the area. If it's a secure location, you'd get some idea of what it is based on the type of people who are guarding the entrance.

Yeah, and after you report back what caliber of bullets just shredded through your brain using the ubiquitous, non-restricted internet connections you've heard so much about in the Chinese desert before the soldiers there remove your body (now freed from any pesky motor control), we'll clearly have an answer!

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[Anonymous Coward]

Go there? Why not try calling a local official first? The site is right next to the city of Kashgar -- find a phone number and pick up the phone. (OK, find a native Chinese speaker first...) 60 seconds and few questions later you might have *an* answer, if not *the* answer.

Who knows, the city's website (http://www.xjks.gov.cn/) might even have news about the project. Although I think the site may be Slashdotted already.

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me of a small aircraft factory with runways. Maybe we should send Steve Austin in by parachute so he can report back...

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[djl4570]

I tried that. It's blurred out.

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[Anonymous Coward]

What a stupid comment by someone who has obviously no experience visiting such sites.

"Oh there was guys with guns in uniform wanting my id"
"ITS A SECRET AIRBASE!!!! I CAN TELL BY THE UNIFORMS!"

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[SourceFrog]

The problem is it's in Chinese.

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[aliquis]

So you go there just to find out they are the biggest manufacturers of penis enlargement pills and this is their warehouse and retail outlet.

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[aliquis]

What a stupid comment by someone who has obviously no experience visiting such sites.

"Oh there was guys with guns in uniform wanting my id"
"ITS A SECRET AIRBASE!!!! I CAN TELL BY THE UNIFORMS!"

Yeah. Someone joked about this being an IKEA store.

You see. People still haven't got it. Just you wait until we've built them everywhere!

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[jrumney]

Forget the local officials. I'm sure even the CIA can find someone who is not loyal to the Chinese government in the local area to give them the non-censored story.

Re:Ummm.... maybe go there?

[Anonymous Coward]

They tried that, and the Google cars wer the first varmints the farmers got to shoot at in a long time!

Aint autonomous driving great? Wind 'em up and let 'em go!

Yeeeee-hawr!

Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[eldavojohn]

Disclaimer: I've never done anything like this. Well, this structure is pretty unique in its shape. Judging by the shadow, it's pretty high up and probably serves the most distinct purpose? It almost looks like that might be a prison yard in the middle with a fence in the back? If you're going to make a building that large and use it for office space, why make that shape? Why not just a rectangular or square building? It could also maybe be the beginnings of an airport or air base with that structure being the tower and the field to be built in front of the flat side of the U. The other sites might be hangars?

If it's a prison, the other sites might be places for arrays of solar panels or perhaps mining sites with the intent of prisoners working on those things. I mean, when you're that far out are you going to make a run for it? The electricity and/or ore would be for nearby Kashgar, Xinjiang?

If any of that were true, I have no clue what this stuff would be though. It looks like the upper left of that has had dirt pushed around to level out the ground for something to be built on top of it though. This went up fast but you might have to give it another year or two before it starts to take shape?

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[fluor2]

I think it's great we are living in a world where you can ask questions. Because, without questions - we would just have answers. And a question without an answer is just a statement.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[mindcandy]

Just southwest of that structure is what's obviously a pretty big electrical substation (you can see the transmission tower shadows leading to it) .. also, look further west and you see another U shaped building with no roof and what are obviously little rooms/cells .. so be it dormitories or whatever, I think you're on the right track.

That's a big substation though .. something need a lot of juice.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Gertlex]

Going by the shadow of what looks like vehicles, I'd say that's a 2 or 3 story building, and it's early/late in the day so the shadows are reasonably long...

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Judging by the shadow"

if you go a bit to the right where 2 photos join up. you can easily tell the photo to the left, where this grid stuff is, is taken late afternoon, and anything tall (including all the trees between fields), cast extremely long shadows, and also probably why everything looks orange instead of green like the right side photo.

people have mentioned it could be a mining facility or a dry goods storage area, and from the U shaped buildings internal structure, the latter seems like the most likely candidate. (there is a photo of the U shaped half way built, where you can see it's a lot of same sized rectangular compartments.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, asking questions is great. However, the post you're replying to has nothing to do with asking questions. It just says when you're making a statement (which are not questions), for example guesses, don't use a question mark at the end.
A question mark is called a "question mark" because it's the punctuation (mark) you put at the end of questions. That should not be a difficult concept to understand.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[choprboy]

I don;t think that is very unique at all... Given a layman's construction viewpoint of the surrounding structures, this would appear to be an industrial/earthworks park, not a military base. The structure looks like a simple shed in a large "U" shape, with an entrance gate in the center. This is very reminiscent of the grand walls and entries you see in lots of Chinese structures, even in otherwise mundane industrial settings. You can see a similar structure here missing most of its roof.

Looking around the site, this seems to be a series of 4 brick making facilities, which are mostly in a state of disrepair. Lot the distinctive features:
- The site is on the edge of a plateau to two distinct soil types.
- The site has large scraped areas and ramps down into the secondary soil type to the north (many of which have subsequently been eroded away).
- The site has piles of earth (apparently from the scraped areas), adjacent to the building sites.
- There are multiple excavators and front end loaders, as well as dumptrucks and associated equipment.
- There are long rows of parallel molds set out to dry in the sun.
- There are additional areas that look to have been indoor (heated?) drying areas in now delapidated buildings.
- There are extra (unused) molds stacked in adjacent areas.
- There is an old power station which probably fed all the facilities when in full productions, but most seem to be derelict today.
- There are no apparent gaurd gates, road blocks, or fences/walls enclosing these surrounding areas... just an open road back to the farmland and local villages.
- There are no apparent army trucks, equipment, bunkers, runways, or barracks anywhere in the area.

Conclusion... This is a series of mud/clay brick making facilities, now mostly in a state of disrepair. The 2 (of about 5 or 6 separate facilities) that appear to have some remaining functionality no longer have production buildings or significant equipment remaining, just open air minimal facilities. Look at any old/disused mining sites in the American southwest deserts and you will see similar features.
 

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Conclusion... This is a series of mud/clay brick making facilities, now mostly in a state of disrepair. The 2 (of about 5 or 6 separate facilities) that appear to have some remaining functionality no longer have production buildings or significant equipment remaining, just open air minimal facilities. Look at any old/disused mining sites in the American southwest deserts and you will see similar features.

You must have missed the part where they talked about how fast this just went up.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Bigby]

You could think of it in reverse. They could be excavating a historic site and built a electrical substation and other buildings to assist in the operation.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[amicusNYCL]

With all due respect, you're talking out of your ass. Look at this picture. Notice that the image shown there is from 6/21/2011. What you call the "dilapidated buildings" didn't even have graded land or foundations a year and a half ago. If you have Google Earth installed then you can turn back the clock to see what else changed in 2 years' time. Those buildings are not dilapidated or in a state of disrepair, they are under construction. Try again, comrade.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[aliquis]

There's sure a hell of a lot of antennas in the area (or maybe they are just light posts? =P)
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.5796,76.059482&spn=0.002179,0.003449&t=h&z=18

"also how large is a pig?
https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.581243,76.052425&spn=0.001089,0.001725&t=h&z=19"

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Excellent analysis. I'll add that the managers/higher-ups work on the right side of the large U-shaped building, as that's where the only HVAC Unit is. Managers need comfort. The people they are managing, on the other hand, had better STFU get back to work!

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with you except for two small aspects: 1) I think a lot of this is *new* facility just about to go into production (and still partially under construction), rather than an old one shutting down. Much of the disturbance of the ground surface is very fresh (I'm a geologist, so you'll just have to take my word for that, but one sign is the presence of excavators/loaders on some of the dirt berms, and very little the way of natural rills that cut through the roads -- i.e. plenty of small and larger gullies filled in without the re-excavation by streams that would occur over the years even in a fairly arid environment). 2) the "power station" is not a power station, it's only a switching station (transformers and such). The local coal-fired power station is here to the south a few km away, which appears to be undergoing a major expansion that will roughly double it in size (the foundations are already set, and the construction cranes are working away at it). There is also a smaller natural-gas-fired power station here to the west of the facility.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[K-Sparticus]

Actually, except for the age of the buildings his analysis is pretty good.

Now, if you want a possible military site in China try this http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.848586,109.628062&spn=0.032885,0.066047&t=h&z=15

It has what looks like high-explosive bunkers to the south-east, possible test firing ranges to the west, some nice tall towers or chimneys in the center and an oval track (for I don't know what) to the south

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[LoRdTAW]

"With all due respect, you're talking out of your ass."
"Try again, comrade."

You sound a bit snide when speaking. Try to be more polite when correcting others or pointing out their lack of knowledge. Otherwise you sound like a dick. Obviously he had no idea you could roll back the clock. Aside from that he made a very interesting and well informed guess at what the facility could be.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Conclusion... This is a series of mud/clay brick making facilities, now mostly in a state of disrepair. The 2 (of about 5 or 6 separate facilities) that appear to have some remaining functionality no longer have production buildings or significant equipment remaining, just open air minimal facilities. Look at any old/disused mining sites in the American southwest deserts and you will see similar features.

Better send in the bombers quick then. They could be making infant formula there.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Assuming the older photo is both accurate and accurately labelled in terms of geo-location and time...

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Those thin strips of dug-out holes honestly look like mass-graves to me.

How about it being a gulag?

The U could be used for surveillance of the area.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

With all due respect, you're talking out of your ass ... Try again, comrade.

Watson, is that you?

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck off back to Hacker News.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[sosume]

This info is false. If you check google earth, the first picture containing this site is dated 22-6-2011. Yes - if you go to date 21-6-2011 you will not see the facility. But that image, where the facility is missing, is actually dated 18-10-2009.
Therefore all we can conclude is that it too somewhere between 18 months and 1 day to construct the facilities and roads.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, this structure is pretty unique in its shape.

Yes, quite unique indeed!

https://maps.google.se/maps?q=vetekornsgatan+m%C3%B6lndal+google+maps&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=57.660165,11.995075&spn=0.009378,0.01929&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hnear=Vetekornsgatan,+431+46+M%C3%B6lndal&t=h&z=16

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well how about we all act like sensible adults and save a lot of time and trouble by making that pretty obvious assumption?

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Has anyone considered dates in pictures could be incorrect and an old picture may have sneaked in? These things occasionally happen?

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your a teachar aintcha!

Sorry I couldn't resist?

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[amicusNYCL]

Obviously he had no idea you could roll back the clock.

You don't really need to, all you need to do is click through the pictures in the article. I didn't even open Google Earth, I just looked at the slideshow and saw that it had the timeline up that had the date set to 6/2011.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Reziac]

I had the same thought. The U-shaped thing looks like a half-finished prison yard. The two structures immediately to the NE look like half-built quonset huts.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your a teachar aintcha!

My whatnow?

Sorry I couldn't resist?

No, it doesn't look like you could.

Re:Tall 'U' Shaped Structure?

[cavebison]

Judging by the shadow, it's pretty high up

I assume you mean "tall". Is it? Do you know what time of day the photo was taken and the inclination of the land? No? Then how do you judge how tall it is?

It almost looks like that might be a prison yard in the middle with a fence in the back?

What fence? I don't see a fence, I see a faint line. Why would a prison have one long fence and three walls? Where are the cells? It's a completely inefficient design as a place to service residents or equipment - you can't get from one side to the other without traversing the entire "U" shape. That's ludicrous.

This went up fast

How do you know that? Speculation about this crap is pointless.

Ikea store

[Anonymous Coward]

Blue roof, yellow trim. Built on cheap land for no good reason. Duh! It's an Ikea store.

Area 52

[warewolfsmith]

Isn't it obvious, the Chinese military like a good anal probing too.

Re:Area 52

[GoodNewsJimDotCom]

My friend and I invented a card game called Area 52. It is played like war, but if you have a lower card than your opponent, you can throw one additional card to win. And if you win, they can throw one additional card to win all 4 cards. Now if a war happens, you put two cards down. Then you play rock-paper-scissor for the cards. If there is a tie, each side puts down another 2 cards. If you are forced to play cards and have none, you lose. Or if you end up running out of cards, you lose.

The game actually has strategies, unlike war(thinking what cards come next, and getting a proper composition of high cards in your deck, or getting a lot of low cards so your aces are hidden). It has the problem that it lasts about as long as war, but the Roshambo gets really in depth. I considered making a Flash game about this.

Re:Area 52

[flayzernax]

Call it: Cold War lol =)

PIg farm with big building for pregnant sows

[Anonymous Coward]

This looks like a pig farm, Once they get the pregnant sows into the farrowing pens in the big buildings, they will eventually give birth an then a bunch of tiny huts will appear spread out through the larger farm area. It will take a couple of years to get up to full production/population.

Re:PIg farm with big building for pregnant sows

[GodfatherofSoul]

Nah, this is what a pig farm looks like from orbit.

Chinese copy of Hanford Reservation?

[swschrad]

no cooling for reactors, so if it is, it's the processing site only.

secret apple factory?

[alen]

railway and airfield close by

Go there

[jelwell]

Is it really too much to ask to just go there? Ex-CIA agent has no money to fly, no license to kill, but plenty of time to kill; especially yours.
Joseph Elwell.

Re:Go there

[davidbrit2]

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't go anywhere near a "mysterious installation in the Chinese desert". I'm guessing due process wouldn't either.

IDing

[Anonymous Coward]

Try the maps on IBing

Re:IDing

[Anonymous Coward]

According to Apple Maps it's the Swaffham branch of Sainsburys.

Commercial Launch Facility

[Anonymous Coward]

Given its location it's probably a EtO launch facility.

Obvious

[SnarfQuest]

it's obvious that there was an accident at Area-51, causing it to clone itself in the Chinese desert. It looks different because you are seeing he underground portion of the site, since it is on the other side of the planet. Now, be quiet about it before the Chinese discover they have a copy of all our alien technology, and hack into it using an apple laptop.

Maybe

[Krojack]

It's the new burial grounds for the current ruling party. They always like to go out big don't they?

Re:Maybe

[GodfatherofSoul]

I do see a bunch of square pits dug to the Northeast...

A stargate?

[Anonymous Coward]

For some reason this reminds me of Stargate. No idea why.

Re:A stargate?

[Anonymous Coward]

Its kinda big, but..

39.632942 N, 76.04963 E

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=39.632942,76.04963&spn=0.0017,0.002411&t=h&z=19

New Terracotta Army Site?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this the location of the new Terracotta Army site that was recently discovered?

Re:New Terracotta Army Site?

[moogaloonie]

If the Terracotta Army really is - as I suspect - comprised of ancient freeze-dried warriors, then this could be the site that re-hydrates them and then acclimates the soldiers to current Chinese military technology. Such an operation would be likely be carried out in a remote location and need a lot of water.

Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like a mine with some processing facilities.

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

Geological thought: this looks like it's on the shoulder of a syncline to its north. That kind of formation often traps hydrocarbons. Maybe this is a natural-gas powered energy station.

Bigfoot / Monster-Truck Playground

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks to me like really big tire-treads on terrain that is naturally bumpy, but they put in a few obstacles as well for fun. I'm sure its always fun running over an apartment complex in a vehicle that is as big as a two-story house.

The building looks like

[mark_reh]

Gus Fring's chicken farm.

Mine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like a mining operation, with the underground entrance at the bottom of the U shaped structure.

Re:Mine?

[drkim]

Looks like a mining operation, with the underground entrance at the bottom of the U shaped structure.

You're correct. Mining and refining.

Probably something with a low recovery ratio, like a rare earth. This makes it wasteful to ship the bulk of it elsewhere for refining, so it's done on site.

Some strip mining:
http://goo.gl/maps/ENccv

Post-process waste:
http://goo.gl/maps/cxjrV

Re:Mine?

[jandrese]

Also, the fact that these facilities shot up recently may also be a clue, as there has been a lot of concern lately about shortages in rare Earths and price jumps as a result. It makes sense that people would try to toss together a quick mining operation while the prices are high.

Are You Brave Enough to Ask Questions?

[eldavojohn]

If it's not a question, don't use a question mark.

Hey, look, buddy. I'm just the only one here brave enough to ask questions, okay? There's nothing wrong with asking questions, is there? Is it illegal? I'm just asking questions. I'm just wondering if maybe this is the site for China's deathray that Obama gave them the plans for under Jimmy Carter's guidance. I'm just asking questions. I'm not making any statements. You can't get mad at me for that. Is this what unions want? China to be free to build whatever they please in the desert? Again, I'm just asking questions. I mean, if I was going to build a soylent green plant, where do you think I'd do it? I'm just asking questions here. I'm not saying that China is turning its overpopulation and starvation problems into a combined solution. But what do you think? I'm just asking questions.

Re:Are You Brave Enough to Ask Questions?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can ask as many questions as you like, but when the sentence is not a question, don't use a question mark at the end. I thought "If it's not a question, don't use a question mark." is pretty clear on that. Let me break it down for you: "not a question" means a sentence other than a question. For example a guess on your part. "don't use a question mark" means use the proper punctuation mark instead of the question mark. For example a period at the end of a regular sentence (which would cover guesses on your part). A question mark is called a "question mark" because it's the punctuation (mark) you put at the end of questions. That should not be a difficult concept to understand. I am really not sure how a simple sentence like "If it's not a question, don't use a question mark." means "Do not asks questions at all." to you.

Don't Fuckin' Tell Him What To Do? If he (or I) want to use question marks (Or Capitalization) incorrectly, that's our business? Do you get it. I can go on like this...for a long time? perhaps I Will...??? oR, mAYBE not? You mad now.

Re:Are You Brave Enough to Ask Questions?

[Anonymous Coward]

That people missed this small, but briliiant, little bit of satire saddens me considerably.

Re:Are You Brave Enough to Ask Questions?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mayb e it is the plnt for the evergrowing chicken?

Re:Are You Brave Enough to Ask Questions?

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a retard.

Re:Are You Brave Enough to Ask Questions?

[MiG82au]

It's not your business any more than bastardising a computer communications protocol is. I am glad that the "troll" posted, because I'm sure I've misused a question mark at some point and I don't want to do that.

Its vs. it's

[ski9826]

Learn the difference. It's is a combination of two very large words: it and is. Its is possessive.

Re:Its vs. it's

[ski9826]

Ha! It got labelled as Offtopic, but at least they changed their summary!

Subterrene Dock, Duh

[CanHasDIY]

Obviously it's a dock for their new fleet of Subterrenes, as the patent recently ran out.

Sounds crazy, right? Yea, that's what people said when I told them about HAARP 10 years ago; now it has its own website.





Crazy is, apparently, a matter of perspective.

Re:Subterrene Dock, Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

...subterrenes...

Oh man, I love the wikipedia sentence "The prototype has been produced and successfully tested until its nuclear reactor blew out". I wouldn't call that success.

...HAARP...

They just recently released an album.

Re:Subterrene Dock, Duh

[nedlohs]

HAARP had that very website 5 years before you were telling people about HARP you idiot. Well OK they've made a few minor updates in the meantine.

http://web.archive.org/web/19970401121448/http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/

Re:Subterrene Dock, Duh

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, because China *totally* cares about US patents...!

PROTIP: NOBODY gives a shit about the USA, you egocentric fuck!

Re:Subterrene Dock, Duh

[Sockatume]

Nobody disputes the existence of HAARP. It's just that most people don't think it's whatever kind of nefarious plot you think it is.

Re:Subterrene Dock, Duh

[CanHasDIY]

HAARP had that very website 5 years before you were telling people about HARP you idiot.

I'm sorry, but what good does hatefulness and insults do? It doesn't serve to move the conversation forward, and really only serves to show how much of a self-centered jerk you are.

Re:Subterrene Dock, Duh

[nedlohs]

I thought I was keeping with the theme, that you might actually take it as an actual insult didn't even cross my mind.

Found Em!

[tnk1]

That's where they are keeping Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Ship building?

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like a dry dock for several emomous boats . . .

Re:Ship building?

[Tynin]

Yeah, i also thought dry dock. The U shaped building would work well for it, but the position of the U shape building doesn't lend itself well to transporting large vessels in and out of the area. Though there is a railway just south of there.

Ask Mojang?

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks a lot like map a few days after my last Minecraft server map restart. Maybe the Chinese are playing for real.

Agriculture

[RalphTheWonderLlama]

That town has a ton of agriculture (irrigated it looks) around it and it is very remote. It pretty far away for it to be feeding other points in China. Just thought I'd point that out

Well nevermind. I looked at a map of the Midwest at the same scale and it's almost all agriculture albeit with a lot more cities.

Super secret headquarters

[Anonymous Coward]

of Movementarians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_The_Simpsons#Movementarians

Launch site for the new bombers disguised as Ikea

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty sure that's just a military launch site for trans-continental bombers disguised as an Ikea complex.

I don't think its so mysterious

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfinished structures: http://goo.gl/maps/Z40lf
Probably means this is something abandoned

Vehicle (truck?) tracks: http://goo.gl/maps/R42Nf
An evidence for a construction site?

Proximity to some sort of rocky canyon: http://goo.gl/maps/D7wqz

A warehouse: http://goo.gl/maps/Fa5e7

Unfinished "production line" style of building: http://goo.gl/maps/4tUjb|

Tracks clearly leading to the canyon part: http://goo.gl/maps/7VFde

My guess: they were building some sort of mining facility to mine something, but it didn't turn out good so they left it abandoned.

No fences.

[Anonymous Coward]

There are no fences or road blocks between that area and nearby Kashgar(less than 5km away from the airport), and it's only 1km from the nearest farm and water source.

Therefore it must be a secret base. WTF? no wonder the guy is ex-CIA.

Re:No fences.

[Anonymous Coward]

This.

I call (agriculture/poop power?) industry site.

Re:No fences.

[SourceFrog]

Hey moron, the slashdot submitter called it a base, not the ex-CIA agent. The ex-CIA agent, if you read the fucking article, wrote: “I haven’t the faintest clue what it might be — but it’s extensive, the structures are pretty big and funny-looking, and it went up in what I’d call an incredible hurry,”

Nothing to see here....

[malakai]

Selective responses from the end of the Wired article....

It's just another industrial zone being set up around Kashgar, this one near the airport. They're all the rage there, now that the city has been prioritized as a special economic zone.

Large population center to the south and west and lots of agriculture to the south and east. Most likely ag processing.

There's a large reservoir just to the right (East) of the site. Also, if you scan out further you'll see that the whole area is agricultural / dairy. You certainly couldn't have all that farming without a LOT of water.

My main point is this location is not of sensitive nature, being that all foreign satellite topography imagery for public use is heavily screened. This ex-CIA agent knows this, and just fed Wired a hollow bone

Yeah, that U-shaped thing looks like the normal open-air agricultural storage thing. We have them all over the west and midwest.

Re:Nothing to see here....

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

My main point is this location is not of sensitive nature, being that all foreign satellite topography imagery for public use is heavily screened.

I'm trying to parse that, and the best I can get is that he's saying the US government censors google's imagery of sensitive locations in other countries. I can see them doing that for allies like Israel, but it is really hard to make a case for the US censoring pictures of Chinese sites.

Lets try this the other way round

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you imagine the outcry in the US if someone in China started posting pictures of Area 51 or other secret US military bases, the sort of stuff they blur on google maps, asking if anyone can help identify their top secret war toys. Team America Fuck Yeah..
It's probably just some sort of mine/procesing plant to dig up/process more weird elements from the ground so they can continue to sell bigger and bigger TVs to the rest of the world.

Re:Lets try this the other way round

[Anonymous Coward]

The first maps of are 51 that the American public could get were from Russia.

Re:Lets try this the other way round

[PhilHibbs]

What, like this? https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=area+51&hl=en&ll=37.233726,-115.804396&spn=0.001452,0.002926&sll=52.8382,-2.327815&sspn=9.031557,23.972168&t=h&hq=area+51&z=19

Archaological discovery site for tourism

[Anonymous Coward]

When I enlarge that first image to 300%, it looks to me like whatever the far right U shaped structure is, it probably some kind of grand-entrance that is merely there for show. It has what looks like a parking lot just under it to the left. Plus that road that goes up to that structure is the widest of all shown, so it was probably built expected to get more traffic.

The far rightmost structure has a large body of water with a bridge going over it for some reason, which implies that people will just generally be walking-around in that area. I also notice that there's a rift-valley that snakes north of the buildings, and toward the left "grand entrance" area, there's a leaf-shape in the steep wall that would be likely large and box-shaped when standing before it on the ground.

The largest building second-to-the-right is probably a theater and/or gift shop.The bracket shaped buildings are probably parking garages for busses that they'll be using to take people from one place to another at the site.

Not military...

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no access control. Look at the airport south, and you will see what is normal, clear access control. This facility has no such feature, although it is still in construction, a sensitive military site (which is what the ex-CIA analyst seems to be referring to) would have some sort of perimeter, and a gate. Commercial sites tend to incorporate those things much later, which is what I bet this is.

Check the scale, not so ominous

[phossie]

The main building is about 150m wide. The two vehicles parked inside it, on the right side, are bulldozers / tractors. The "weird U-shaped thing" is the size of a house... might even *be* a house. The whole thing looks like an ag school field station or, at worst, a work camp (see the stuff to the right of the main building).

See you again in another few years.

Aliens

[Anonymous Coward]

They're setting up to bring their planet here. And knock down the Washington Monument, help a bus elude a drone strike, etc.

Cement Kilns

[Pino Grigio]

Could be a set of cement mills and kilns, especially if there's lime in the area. They tend to be built near the rock, with the finished product shipped out by road.

Re:Cement Kilns

[Anonymous Coward]

This makes even more sense considering China are the biggest concrete consumers in the world. They caused a concrete shortage worldwide a few years ago.

Its: F*** You USA (In Chinese)

[AlienSexist]

The formation of structure and paved spaces almost looks like Chinese characters (to a layman). Probably a clever debt-collector scheme. Once USA intel deciphers it they'll find the secret location where a collection agent will pounce them asking for payment. Sea ports, telcos, ... pay up! It's that or a failed attempt to build a shipyard for a new Noah's Ark for the end of the world... lazy Commies.

Simple boring guess

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a chemical plant (fertilizer, explosives, whatever). The plant and storage areas are spread out so if something goes bang or emits gas it's not a total loss. Maybe they are a reconfigurable lab, doing different product at different times, so it's not neatly optimized to a production line, hence the chaotically changing look of the place.

Kashgar?

[loufoque]

Isn't that the location for an underground alien complex?

Looks like...

[Panaflex]

A high energy laser testbed. The barrels of oil, the cooling pond, the coal electric generators, and the long straight area that would be used for measuring beam focus.

High Winds - U-shaped building

[eepok]

High Winds in the area: http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/windpower/ResourceMap/sse_figure28a_rev.gif
Paper on effects of high winds on U-Shaped buildings: http://nargeo.geo.uni.lodz.pl/~icuc5/text/O_18_1.pdf

It is obvious!

[Penguinisto]

This is a clever trick designed by Slashdot to make people RTFA.

You're not making me fall into that trap, by gum...

Re:It is obvious!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm confused. I've been told that means "Read The F`ing Article," but what's an article?

Re:It is obvious!

[dinfinity]

In this specific case, it is something that needs to get the fuck off of Slashdot.

Anybody that bothers to zoom out can see that there is absolutely nothing interesting about this location. Nothing.

Re:It is obvious!

[LeadSongDog]

I'm confused. I've been told that means "Read The F`ing Article," but what's an article?

Yes, you certainly are confused. What's an interrogative adjective. The and an are articles.

It's China giving the finger

[Mister Liberty]

to the Israeli Air Force.

China's Secret Village Cloning Program

[retroworks]

Remember last June, when a village in Austria found out it had been copied by the Chinese, down to the sashes and doorknobs? http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/06/05/2332224/china-secretly-clones-austrian-village

Now they're copying Area 51 in Roswell. Or maybe Six Flags.

Unicorn Lair

[Bayoudegradeable]

Clearly you people don't know what Unicorn Lairs look like. They're not limited to DPRK ya know....

Mining

[Anonymous Coward]

My bet it's mining

It's all spread out...

[enter to exit]

It's all spread out so probably a processing plant for something with a high risk of exploding of burning.

If you look at the second image you'll notice there's a fair bit of greenery nearby and what appears to be residential blocks.

Shadow?

[ElementOfDestruction]

Except you have no idea what time of day or what time of year that photo was taken.

Re:Shadow?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure we do, but it relies on trusting that Google have the imagery up the right way and the buildings are level.

The shadows in the two stitched photos over which the site is displayed all give a pretty good indication of the time of day and the season. At 39 north with the shadows cast in the directions they are at their respective lengths (multiple photos remember), let's assume the Google Earth dates are fairly accurate and they all appear to have been captured an hour or two before local noon.

Obviously ...

[Hans Adler]

... they are applying stratagem 29 and decking the tree with false blossoms.

A user called "Anonymous Coward" has said it earlier in different words, but that was voted "funny". Probably because Mr(s). Coward didn't explain it properly.

On the trail of Hanoi Xan...

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks to me like Xan was working on his own Oscillation Overthruster, and then abandoned the research some time ago.

Does anybody know any Blue Blaze Irregulars that might be able to confirm?

UVB-76 Backup Site

[Anonymous Coward]

Google Maps needs to take another picture of this site the instant UVB-76 stops transmitting again. Methinks the site will then resemble a babel fish.

Area 52

[flayzernax]

NT

Agricultural rather...

[thorgil]

Looks to me to be some kind of agricultural/horticultural research. Some structures are clearly old defunct greenhouses and plastic tunnels.
  Big U-shaped building may house offices. Big blue-roofed building to the right looks like a chicken farm.
North of complexes is what looks like a dried riverbed, a possible source of water (subsurface). /T

Re:Agricultural rather...

[icebike]

Nothing here is old or defunct.

Use Google Earth. Click the clock button, and drift back in time.
Nothing was here in 2009.

Its just a mining operation of some sort.

Re:Agricultural rather...

[gruntkowski]

Mining, chicken farm....
It seems the chinese implemented a real life Minecraft. Can't wait to see their mob grinder!

Re:Agricultural rather...

[HagraBiscuit]

The Wildfire facility was portrayed as having the facade of an agrigultural research station. hmmm...

Re:Agricultural rather...

[lengau]

They have.

Re:Agricultural rather...

[ConceptJunkie]

Be sure to take your epilepsy medication!

Factory, my guess

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see any obvious parking lots, but I do see rows of small buildings that look like worker living quarters. Looks like some kind of factory complex to me. But yeah, some of those buildings and structures definitely look funny.

Obviously

[arcite]

It's a cover for the giant robot killer factory that lies beneath. ;)

Looks commercial/industrial

[Animats]

This isn't an isolated installation. There's a small city nearby. There's an airport, and just northwest of the airport, a big area surrounded by a neat oval of roads with trees and road dividers, like an unfinished mall or industrial park. Only a few buildings have been built inside the oval, and there's still farming in much of it. East of the city there are streets laid out, but no buildings. The area has the look of a big failed real estate project. Compare areas west of Las Vegas, or California City.

Not A Secret Base

[Bitsy Boffin]

Ok, lets be rational, look at things in a very slightly wider context... https://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.578438,76.060066&spn=0.227835,0.445976&num=1&t=h&z=12&1

If you switch to Map view it becomes even clearer

As you can see, this place is only a matter of 10 or 15 kilometers from a large densely populated town, it's only a couple of kilometers from a reasonably large airport, there are a lot of smaller farms and a few larger ones, the road G314 looks like it would overlook the "facility" as it runs up to Kuqiwan. It is at most a hundred kilometers from the Kyrgz border

In short, this doesn't really seem like somewhere you'd build your newest top secret facility.

It looks like a big project, I'm sure most people living in Kashgar know about it, if somebody was really interested, I'm sure they could find somebody who spoke english living in Kashgar and give them a ring... "Hi, I'm from the west, we wondered what that big-ass building project you have out there is?"

Robot Inspection

[Anonymous Coward]

Drop in a robot and inspect the place, then report back to /.

It's a rare earth mine

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a rare earths mine and processing facility.

Note the ramps going up to the plateau.

In the next 12-18mos you will see the beginning of a quarry there.

Waste storage

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd guess its some kind of toxic waste storage facility. Perhaps the Chinese Yucca Mountain? I'd bet it's something pretty close to that.

terra cotta incognito

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like they are building another set of terra cotta warriors, so they can "discover" them in a few years and boost tourism.

Re:English

[TheUnknownCoder]

They've fixed it...

Don't shoot yet...

[slashrio]

Before 'you Americans' start bombing the hell out it, based (again) on some limited pictures, as you did in Iraq, maybe it would be a good idea to contact Walt Disney first to ask whether this might be a new Disney World under construction...

Re:Don't shoot yet...

[Anonymous Coward]

I second that, though I doubt even the most "retarded American" would consider bombing China.

Re:Don't shoot yet...

[Anonymous Coward]

No worries, a "tourist" will just happen to get lost while driving around the countryside and snap some photos and grab some soil samples, then return home. Bombing won't happne until another Republican is elected. I hear Jeb Bush is trying to position himself as a candidate for President these days?

Re:Don't shoot yet...

[slashrio]

I hear Jeb Bush is trying to position himself as a candidate for President these days?

Oh... f*ck...
That was the miscreant owning the company which provided 'security' for the Twin Towers in their last days...
Bad news. Very bad...

Answer

[sexconker]

It's where Dell, HP, Staples, etc. send off all your old toner and ink cartridges for "recycling".

NSA Yakima listening post is more interesting

[Anonymous Coward]

The "cowboy" listening post has had some major changes over the past 8 years. The last google earth shows most of the radio dishes pointing down.
The roof on the main building is showing decay and the shutdown of the waste treatment plant and the power station is apparent.
This follows the creation and removal of a large area of excavation spoils to the WNW of the main site over the past 6 years.
The dump site with the 500+ house-sized piles was removed from google earth in the late 2K's. I would love to see what replaced all that excavated dirt.
The Yakima Indian Tribe also had a lawsuit against the US Gov for the dumping of dirt on tribal land. The records have also been removed from internet.
Check it out.

Further thoughts...

[Anachragnome]

As is often the case, heavy metals can occur in mixed deposits--several different kinds of minerals in one deposit.

After looking through the images more closely, something stood out that I should have noticed immediately--this isn't one facility, but four. They simply share a resource deposit. Look near the dike and it is obvious that each section has it's own access road up and over the dike where they become inter-connected by a wide road that extends the full length of the images.

If you'll look at one of the images that shows the entire facility, you'll notice that the rectangular area that contains structures is roughly divided into four mostly equal areas. Each of these areas has totally different structures--the left most has the "shakers" and the the building I suggested might contain individual centrifuges. The next area contains only the long buildings, but also has neat rows of processed materials, perhaps the tailings from testing these structures. The next area has a large single facility, maybe suggesting a more refined process or merely the desire to keep our eyes off of the more telling equipment. The right-most image shows yet another sort of facility that combines the long row buildings with an adjacent building of moderate size.

Perhaps the Chinese have located a region rich in numerous materials, each requiring a different method of processing, and this odd facility is simply co-located because the ore is of mixed content.

Another aspect that backs up a dry-mining location is the fact that there is a sizable community just "down-stream" from the facility--dry-mining techniques (including the recycling of centrifuge slurry) would prevent waste from entering the waterways located near that community, provided that tailings were redeposited on the opposite side of the dike after processing.

Re:Further thoughts...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's a rare earths mining facility

Simple

[Anonymous Coward]

Those are Foxconn industrial complex for making billions of iPhone, and Samsung phone for the world market with aliens labor.

Alien Spaceport

[PPH]

You fuckwits in the USA captured the first visitors and locked them up in Area 51. The Chinese are inviting them in, with technology sharing programs and a piece of the potential business profits.

What's at 37.416561,-116.860135 ?

[Jeremy Erwin]

I spotted this American collection of roads to nowhere and its been puzzling me. I thought it might be a collection of bombing practice targets, but I really don't know.

Re:What's at 37.416561,-116.860135 ?

[Bitsy Boffin]

Slightly south there are similar "roads", this one has various aircraft clearly placed all over it. So I'd assume bombing or aerial/satellite photography practice targets to simulate an airfield as you suggest.

Re:What's at 37.416561,-116.860135 ?

[Bitsy Boffin]

Sorry, wrong link, this is the one I meant...

Re:What's at 37.416561,-116.860135 ?

[Jeremy Erwin]

Ah, now I understand "Troll". Sigh. I thought I had checked that link.

Re:What's at 37.416561,-116.860135 ?

[Jeremy Erwin]

A rather large map of the the Nevada TTR places the airfield in section 76.

And the wikipedia entry for Juterbog Airfield, a former soviet military base in East Germany, states

Experts suggest that the airfield has been copied by the United States Air Force, as part of its Tolicha Peak Electronic Combat Range (TPECR), in the western part of the Nevada Test and Training Range.[1]
Located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) northwest of the TPECR is an airfield target (N3722 W11650), designated "Eastman Airfield Target", "Target 76-14", or the "Korean Airfield". However, it has a northeastern taxiway loop which is characteristical for Jüterbog, and three ramps in front of hangars on the western side of the loop. The other taxiways have a similar layout, although the runway is about 400 metres (1,300 ft) shorter. There are two accompanying SAM sites, one 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) northwest of the airfield, and one 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) northwest just like the original.[1]

So it's a rather elaborate bombing target.

I don't care.

[Nyder]

China can build what they want. If you are so curious, just ask them.

Unaligned buildings would drive me nuts

[caseih]

In one part of the complex, two seemingly identical structures are going up, but they are at slight angles to each other. That's gotta drive someone nuts if they are like me. That said I wonder what some of my projects look like from space... I they are lined up down here, but maybe from orbit they'd be obviously crooked.

Chinese Desert Pics.

[Anonymous Coward]

GOLD MINE. Desert style.

Foxconn

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an abandoned Ipad manufacturing facility for Foxconn

There are fucking aliens under ground in your damn

[Anonymous Coward]

caves. I keep yelling it, and no mod points are spent. Not even to downmod as troll...

They're in yer caves! Under yer grounds! They have to have ports to the surface. Bases. Mutual agreements between them and humans. They need supplies and surface infrastructure. All Google Earth shows is the small surface of the earth. None of what's underground below those surface structures.

Technology exchange. Military tech is 100 years ahead of what we know. That space plane defies gravity. So do other crafts we fly right here in the atmosphere. Simple tech to these guys. Magic to us.

Betteridge's law of headlines

[ckhorne]

Obviously, the answer is "no"...

It's a Rorschach-Test!

[cpghost]

Quite obviously, this looks like the asymmetric variant of a Rorschach-Test. Now, did I pass, or should I've been more creative?

Chinese Base

[Codifex Maximus]

Looks like a Chinese Base in the Desert to me.

Music festival

[Anonymous Coward]

Some kind of Chinese Woodstock. Don't eat the brown rice, man.

what?

[slashmydots]

An Ex-CIA analyst requests your assistance

I'm am IT specialist. WTF does he want me for? lol.

Re:what?

[slashmydots]

In my professional opinion, it's a paintball field though.

Other strange things to the southwest of this area

[Anonymous Coward]

Any idea of the structures to the left and down? The ones with what appear to be test tracks with various shapes and then lots of places where there seem to be tire tread marks that show vehicles backup, turn left, return, backup turn right, return. Very strange things here.

why ?

[Anonymous Coward]

is this the maximum resolution image they got till date ?

and an image so curious that 'Murrica need help. get a clue guys.

looks CIA is checking how much people care and how much people can assess a given situation.

I've seen similar construction sites before

[Anonymous Coward]

The tall U shaped building is likely offices. Now from furthest right to left:

The area to the furthest right resembles the workings of a basic material mine and processing operation. Shift left and the northernmost object on the left is the most interesting. it is a factory suspended on rails, which moves alone a track to construct parts of something large, spacecraft, missiles, ships, who the hell knows, along with support/operations buildings for that one.

I can't tell what is directly south of it but it appears to be a frequently used materials storage area. North of that and further left is a more advanced processing plant for turning roughly processed raw materials into whatever they are making, as the objects around and tracks are indicative of. Further left is more materials storage, and what they are building here in unclear, but it appears to be at least 4 stories tall, and have some advanced ventilation equipment as if it is going to become a set of cleanrooms and advanced manufacturing.

The local areas seem to be suffering from drought in many mining fields and the locals are likely particularly desperate for work, and this part of china is sparsely populated and quite poor, with minimal education. Pictures show the area was at one point a fertile floodplane, with ample life and water that has been completely used for farming and otherwise dried up for other reasons.

The nearby airport is less than 20 years old and stylistically appeals to the more educated crowd of China and looks out of place, as do many buildings in the area. It appears that those with education are being forcibly migrated out there.

What exactly is it the facilities are being built to construct, I do not know, but the combination of factors for this area would give me a very, very large red mark regarding it. If I were an intelligence agency, I would be putting a great deal of effort into finding out.

-Exekiel

Piece of paper

[michelcolman]

It's just a wrinkled piece of paper that flew up in front of the satellite camera.

It's a retail / industrial centre

[Anonymous Coward]

It's near a commercial airport on a growing town. Zoom out a bit and look at the posted photos.

It appears to be

[Chrisq]

It appears to be giving the finger to US satellites. Really - go and look

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Feng Shui?

[Anonymous Coward]

Typical Feng Shui building style? Walls at 3 sides and river or mountain at north?

Warehouse 14?

[Ubeor]

It looks eerily like Warehouse 13...

Re:Warehouse 14?

[Anonymous Coward]

You got to it before me, darn.

3 Minutes ...

[Martin S.]

To find out that the large industry in Kashgar is a Brick Factory.

Could it be a Chinese version of Yucca Mountain?

[MarcQuadra]

It doesn't look like anything spectacular to me, but the tree placement, giant warehouse, and that it's on the side of a hill make me wonder if it's just a disposal site of some sort.

If it's anything of importance, I'll bet it's a nuclear or toxic waste disposal site.

Mists of Pandaria

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a new portal in preparation for the 5.2 patch where Azeroth integrates with the real world.

Rare Earth Processing Plant

[Anonymous Coward]

The large area to the NW looks like a mine, could it be a rare earth processing plant? They have already taken steps to monopolize the rare earth industry.

Abandonware...

[jasonq]

Well ya see, they were building these big old boats when somebody just told them the Mayans were wrong.

Obviously...

[glittermage]

One of Umbrella Corporation's many underground facilities.

Wavy lines

[Anonymous Coward]

All I'm seeing is couple of wavy lines..

I can't wait until it's completed

[Ear Phantom]

And ./ readers finally realize that it's the Chinese glyph for "made you look."

Looked like...

[Anonymous Coward]

a temple complex to me.

Looks like mining

[Anonymous Coward]

There might be deposits at the base of the hill/mountain. Coluvial/alluvial perhaps.

By the odd structures and sizes I'd bet uranium leaching or some such.

Re:Looks like mining

[icebike]

It could well be something like that.

It seem they are only working the alluvial deposits, there do not seem to be any roads or excavations into the mountainous area.
So it seems that they are not concerned with large tonnage.

It could also be gem stones, or dry gold separation, (no indication of water sluicing at any of these sites), no tank farm, no obvious
pipe lines, no discharge.

No indication of smelting on a large scale, no smoke stacks, and not a big enough power grid to run electrical smelters, so that
probably rules out metals. The lack of good roads or rail lines seems to rule out off-site ore processing as well.

Again, stepping back in time using Google Earth, you see the same linear structures in the large blue buildings (prior to it
being roofed over) that you see in adjacent areas. I have no idea what those are, they could be some sort of separation
facility, ball mills, hammer mills, shaker tables.
or something. Perhaps someone with a mining background would be able to identify those structures.

There doesn't seem to be enough power lines into the plant to support fabrication processes.

In the latest picture on google earth the large blue topped building appears to have a coal pile (although not a very big one)
in the north west corner. That might be for heating, but again, no significant smoke stacks.

How much are they paying?

[Anonymous Coward]

First off, it was public knowledge that we had satellites that could read newspaper headlines from space 20 years ago. If they want us to have a good shot at guessing, how about some really good close up images? Maybe they wouldn't need our help then.

Secondly, I'm all for doing my patriotic duty, but if my free information (that I might get from the plethora of Chinese grad students around here) gets him a raise and I get a "Thanks, kid.", I'll let the experts figure it out without me. I've done enough of that.

Pig farm!

[CHIT2ME]

Looks like a gigantic pig farm to me. Send in the CIA, but, make sure they take their hip length waders. It's probably going to be deep SH*T!!!

Re: name them

[neonsignal]

Canberra. No one knows why anyone would want to live there.

Assimilate me

[ultanium]

All your base are belong to us.

As we giggle and laugh about what it is

[Anonymous Coward]

The prisoners working in the new mines that were built in the last few years (my bs guess) at the base of those mountains probably wouldn't think it was very funny