Salt
- Salt is a biological requirement of life. The body requires salt to maintain tissue and muscle health.
- 1945 the Lister brothers recognised the high demand for salt and moved away from gold and into salt mining at Lake Lefroy near Kambalda. They founded the WA Salt Supply. In 1967 Dampier Salt was formed and construction work began in 1969. Dampier Salt's first harvest took place late in 1971 and the first shipment left Dampier in April 1972. Onslow Salt comes online making its first harvest in April 2001.
- In Western Australaia the primary method of salt mining is solar evaporation. Sea water is pumped into large ponds where the sun and wind evaporates the water thus concentrating the salt in the remaining water as brine. The brine is pumped from pond to pond until the salt crystallises in the final pond. At this point the salt is 'harvested', washed and stockpiled.
- Once the salt in the solar evaporation ponds has been harvested and dumped into the wash plant, it is washed in brine to remove any impurities such as magnesium, potassium and gypsum. The salt is taken from the wash plant and transferred to a wet stockpile where it drains for about two months before being shipped to market.
- The production of salt in Western Australia in 2007 generated a value of $306 million for the year.
- With successful salt mining operations all over Western Australia, the state continues to produce over 93 per cent of Australia's output and is the countries leading exporter of the mineral.
To download a copy of the Salt fact sheet click here.
| Maps |
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| Major Mineral and Petroleum Projects in Western Australia (530.84 KB .pdf) |
