Bentonite is an absorbent clay formed from volcanic ash, used in drilling fluids, cat litter, waterproofing, and dozens of industrial applications. In 1931, prospectors searching the Mojave for bentonite deposits found something different at the site that would become Hector Mine: a clay with unusual properties, richer in lithium than ordinary bentonite, with different physical characteristics that gave it different industrial uses.

The clay was eventually identified as a distinct mineral and named hectorite, after the mine where it was first characterized. Hectorite belongs to the smectite group of clay minerals; its lithium content gives it lubricating properties useful in high-temperature applications, cosmetics, and as a component in various industrial processes. The mine became the type locality — the place from which the mineral's formal scientific description was derived.

In 1961, the mine flooded. Mining operations that encounter groundwater face difficult choices: pump the water out continuously, find another way to access the ore, or abandon the affected workings. At Hector Mine, the flooding altered the operational picture significantly. The clay deposits that had made the mine productive were affected; the economics of extraction changed.

By the time operations continued, the mine's focus had shifted. Primary production moved to silver, lead, and zinc — metals that occur in different geological contexts than the clay deposits, suggesting that the mine's geology offered more than the original bentonite prospectors had recognized. The hectorite that gave the mine its name in the scientific literature was no longer the primary reason for mining there.

On October 16, 1999, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Mojave Desert. The earthquake originated on the Lavic Lake fault system, in terrain near the mine, and geologists named it the Hector Mine earthquake — following the convention of naming earthquakes for the nearest significant named feature. The quake was one of the largest to strike California in the twentieth century, though its remote location limited the damage to structures and infrastructure.

The Hector Mine earthquake produced extensive surface rupture along the Lavic Lake fault, visible from the air as a linear scar across the desert floor. It was studied intensively by seismologists and contributed to understanding of the complex fault systems in the eastern Mojave. The mine had already given its name to a mineral; the earthquake added a second entry to the record of what the Hector area has produced.