Ancient methods of salt extraction
Previously, people extracted salt from the ash formed after burning certain types of plants. Sea water was added to the ash, then the mixture was dried and became a product suitable for adding salt to food.
Basin method of salt extraction
Over time, this option was replaced by the cage or pool method, based on the creation of artificial reservoirs on the seashore into which water was poured. After some time, the suspension in the form of sand, clay and other contaminants settled to the bottom, the water was poured into a second reservoir, and after some of the water evaporated, a new portion of water was added to it and people waited for it to completely evaporate. As a result of these actions, a layer of salt formed at the bottom, which was collected for use in food and other purposes.
Self-planting method
On the shore of the pool, the salt mass was piled up and left to rinse naturally. The rains did this job. The self-planting method is still used, with the only difference being that all processes are mechanized, their duration is reduced to a minimum and the resulting volumes are much higher than with manual labor.
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Extraction of sediment salt from swimming pools
If natural conditions do not allow the rapid formation of self-settling salt deposits, flat basins are created in which artificial processes of salt settling take place. Unsaturated brine from lakes, reservoirs located near the sea, and estuaries is pumped into artificially created pools.
A layer of brine up to 40 cm thick is kept in preparatory or gypsum settling pools in a state of natural evaporation during the summer season. At this time, it becomes thicker and is separated from random mechanical impurities, gypsum salts, iron, and calcium carbonates.
Salt extraction from swimming pools
At the next stage, the brine is pumped into special reserve tanks, increasing its total volume, where it is stored until the spring of next year. And only in May and June the last pumping into the cage basin takes place.
The process of salt crystallization begins. Withdrawal season begins in August. At the same time, the thickness of the salt that has settled to the bottom is approximately 6 cm. It is collected with shovels and piled into mounds. The remaining brine is pumped into the lake. The brine is pumped using special pumps along laid gutters and ditches.
Cage salts are considered cleaner than self-carried salts obtained from bottom sediments due to effective purification from silt and mechanical contaminants. The disadvantage of this method of obtaining salt is the seasonality of all work.
The efficiency of basin-type fishing depends on the rate of evaporation of brine, which strongly depends on climatic conditions, for example, temperature, humidity. There is no way to speed up the technological cycle, but the main volumes of sea salt are obtained using this method.
Extraction of pink salt from artificial pools in Crimea
Nature itself suggested this method of extraction, from observations when sand spits were covered with a snow-white layer of salt during a decrease in the water level in the estuary. All that was left was to quickly assemble it. Thus, sea basins appeared in the form of lagoons, depressions separated from the sea.
Pools with brown water are spread across the Crimea and have attracted special attention for more than two hundred years. In autumn, they glow an unusual pink color created by a rare species of pink salt, a color that is given by algae invisible to the eye.
It is beautiful and has healing properties due to the minerals it contains, which are not found in ordinary salt. We are pleased with the planned expansion of its production due to the fact that Crimea currently belongs to Russia.
In the event that it is not possible to allocate large areas for creating swimming pools, other methods of obtaining table salt from sea water are used. For example, Japanese production uses technologies based on the use of effective ion exchange processes.
Modern mining methods
Modern methods of salt extraction
The property of salt is its precipitation. This process occurs without human help. In nature, it is present in sedimentary rocks in sufficient quantities. Geologists call it rock salt; it really is a rock conglomerate. But if this monolith is exposed to high temperatures and pressure, then it softens and becomes such a consistency that it can be selected from rocks using salt combines. If the salt layers lie shallow from the surface, then development is carried out using the quarry method. This method is the lowest cost and is used in salt deposits around the world.
Another extraction method is used when salt layers occur at a depth from the surface. Its principle is to drill a well and pour water into it to dissolve the salt. The resulting saline solution is pumped to the surface, then the salt is boiled out of the brine. This method is called vacuum; it is used to obtain finely ground salt of the “Extra” type.
Salt mining
If there are huge salt domes in the depths, a mine is built, combines are launched into it to extract rock, and salt is extracted according to the same principle as coal or other solid minerals.
There are naturally formed salt caves and lakes in which fossil salt mining is organized on an industrial scale. In our country, such salt regions are the Astrakhan and Orenburg regions, the city of Iletsk, and Lake Baskunchak. The salt mined here is considered pure and unique in quality. It has been exported to many countries around the world since the Ancient Silk Road.
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How salt is mined in Russia
80% of all Russian salt is mined on the salt lake Baskunchak. Under the reservoir there is a salt mountain, which goes deep about 6 kilometers. Salt miners work in an open way, that is, they cut off the very top layer. Salt from Baskunchak is suitable for both food and technical use.
1.
Baskunchak is a large salt lake in the north of the Astrakhan region, its area is 115 square kilometers. Since the 8th century, salt has been mined here, which was previously sent for sale along the Silk Road.
In the 60s of the 18th century, the deposits became the main supplier of salt to the Russian domestic market. At that time, salt was mined by hand. Standing waist-deep in water, the workers loosened the salt with an ice pick and, using shovels, loaded it into carts drawn by camels. In 1918, excavators appeared here, and in the 1930s - the first salt cleaners, which became the prototypes of modern salt harvesters.
2.
Today, salt in Baskunchak is extracted using a special technological complex, the basis of which is a salt combine. And the site for production is selected using geological exploration.
3.
The salt harvester slowly rides on rails, which are moved as the salt layer is mined.
4.
The combine is a unique machine that was designed and built right at the field back in the 90s. Its name is appropriate - “Baskunchak-1”.
5.
The combine moves on rails, breaks the layer with the help of two cutters and mixes salt with water. This mass is called salt pulp. It goes into the dewatering system and then into the crusher. Then the crushed salt is separated from the water and loaded into wagons or a tractor. Excess water is immediately drained back into the lake.
6.
Salt combine operator. He drives the car together with an assistant driver.
7.
The combine cuts seams at a depth of up to 8 meters; during operation, the fragile salt edge can crumble and the machine will lose balance. To control this, an inclinometer is used. The tool ensures that the equipment does not tilt more than normal. If this happens, an alarm is triggered on the inclinometer and production stops.
8.
The salt combine operator's assistant directs the boom so that the salt falls into the tractor or freight car. He also keeps in touch with the driver of the tractor using a walkie-talkie. When the trailer is full, it signals that it is time to move the car forward. In this way, workers synchronize the loading process and the speed of the vehicle.
9.
An elevator through which salt rises to the boom. During this time, excess water drains from it.
10.
Salt is poured from the combine into tractor trailers.
11.
A mining tractor is a huge machine with three trailers. They load 450 tons of salt at a time, which is about seven railway cars.
12.
13.
It takes about 90 minutes to load one tractor.
14.
Approximately 100 railway cars of salt are mined here per day.
15.
When the layer is developed, the railway track is shifted by 180 centimeters. Typically, pillars no more than 10 centimeters wide are left between the trenches. They are needed to reduce losses from formation destruction.
16.
To move the tracks, special straightening machines mounted on tractors are used. There is no need to completely disassemble the rails.
17.
18.
In the place where the combine went through, breaks are formed. They look like rectangular pools separated by salt “breakwaters”. The boundaries of the pools are marked with special fences to prevent any driver from driving into a dangerous area with an eight-meter depth.
19.
Tractors operate only during daylight hours. At night, salt is loaded into railway cars. Work at the enterprise is carried out around the clock in three shifts.
20.
The cars are moved for loading using tractors, which are attached to the train with metal cables.
21.
The combine loads salt into wagons.
22.
The process is almost no different from loading into a tractor.
23.
Salt is loaded around the clock. Not everything is processed at Baskunchak itself; the rest is transported along the Volga to other enterprises in the central part of Russia.
24.
Tractors bring salt to the unloading point, which is located at the enterprise.
25.
During an eight-hour shift, a tractor driver manages to make 3–4 trips.
26.
The brought salt is unloaded onto a receiving device - a bunker.
27.
The receiver looks like a huge sieve through which coarse, not yet processed, salt gradually spills out.
28.
Then the salt goes onto a 700-meter conveyor.
29.
The salt moves along it to the stacker-reclaimer. This is an automated complex that receives salt, places it in a large mountain for drying, and then delivers it to a receiving device for crushing, and then the salt is supplied through technological lines to the factory.
The stacker-reclaimer is a German machine 40 meters high, which is designed for laying and collecting salt.
30.
The stacker leaves beautiful patterns on the salt mountain.
31.
Table salt ends up at the factory. First, it is crushed to the first grinding and dried and then packaged.
32.
Line where edible salt is packaged and packaged.
33.
Table salt is poured into plastic bags or large 50-kilogram bags. The salt is then sent for sale throughout the country. And part of it goes for export. It’s interesting that Baskunchak’s own stores often sell salt that was brought from neighboring regions.
34.
The bags are marked with the production date.
35.
Mined salt varies in color, granule size and amount of impurities. Young salt is lighter, finer and purer, and is suitable for eating.
The table salt packaged at this factory does not look perfectly white. It is not cleaned with chemicals, so it retains its natural grayish or beige tint. And that's okay.
Dark and coarse salt lay in the lake longer and managed to absorb too much silt and other organic matter. It's called technical. The degree of purity of the product is determined in the laboratory.
36.
The area where wagons with salt are unloaded.
37.
To empty cars with slightly caked salt, special buckets are used.
38.
In most Russian cities, industrial salt is used to sprinkle roads and sidewalks. It is also used by chemists, builders and power engineers in their work.
39.
Due to the peculiarities of the technology, mining occurs only in the warm season - from spring to autumn. Therefore, in addition to daily packing and shipping, you need to create supplies for the winter.
40.
41.
The nearest settlement to the lake is the village of Nizhny Baskunchak. Most of its residents have been working in salt mining for generations.
42.
Salt layers of the Baskunchak deposit continue to form to this day. Over time, new salt forms at the site of the fractures. Now the areas where work was carried out in the 40s have been almost completely restored. That is, if you follow the technology, you can extract salt from Baskunchak endlessly.
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About potassium salt deposits
In addition to sodium chloride salt, potassium salt is mined. This is a unique fertilizer for agricultural crops and raw materials used in the light and chemical industries, energy and medicine. The main reserves of this mineral lie in the Perm region. The Verkhnekamsk salt basin contains more than 15% of the world's potassium salt reserves.
There are a large number of potassium deposits on the West Siberian Platform; according to experts, up to 60% of Russian potassium salt reserves are located here. Many West Siberian deposits have not yet begun to be developed; they are still considered only explored and are the property of future descendants of Russians.
The Eltonskoye and Gremyachinskoye (Volgograd region) fields are considered promising. They have established giant industrial enterprises that use high-tech methods for extracting potassium salts. The product obtained here is of high quality and in demand on the world market.
Extraction of evaporated salt
By evaporating purified concentrated brines in modern vacuum devices, the purest salt is obtained. For use in the food industry, the self-settling, cage type of salt is used. Rock salt is suitable for technical purposes. The main plant for the production of evaporated salt is the Usolsky vacuum evaporation plant in Russia.
Artificial salt pools
In Belarus it is produced in Mozyr and at the Slavyansk plant of Ukraine. The technology for producing table salt is based on the ability of rapid evaporation of brine at pressure below atmospheric. It begins to boil at lower temperatures and precipitates in the form of crystals. Further centrifugation makes it possible to obtain high-quality finely ground “Extra” edible salt.
In the CIS countries, in addition to existing salt plants, the production of edible salt has been developed as a by-product during the extraction of other types of salt, for example, potash at the Russian enterprises Uralkali and Silvinit.
The names and history of the development of many cities on our planet are associated with the word salt. This:
- Sol-Iletsk,
- Solikamsk,
- Solvychegodsk,
- Usolye-Sibirskoye (Russia),
- Salzburg (Germany),
- Levanputra (India),
- Thessaloniki (Greece),
- Salt Lake City (USA) and others.
The prosperity of ancient Rome also owes to the mineral with which human life is closely connected.
