Salt production
bookPart
In the Netherlands salt deposits are present within the Permian and Triassic intervals. The salt units in the upper Permian Zechstein Group attain especially great thicknesses (up to 1000 m) in the north of the country and the adjacent offshore areas. Salt is produced by solution mining in the eastern and northern Netherlands: rock salt from the Triassic Röt Formation and the Permian Zechstein Group and magnesium salt from the Zechstein Group. Total production amounts to 5.5-6.7 Mt/yr of rock salt and 0.25-0.30 Mt/yr of magnesium salt. Exploitation takes place between appx. 500 and 3000 m, the mining of Permian rock salt in the Barradeel concessions being the deepest worldwide. The rock salt is mainly used for the manufacturing of chlorine; most of the magnesium salt is used to produce magnesium oxide. The lifecycle of a salt mining concession can be divided into five phases: exploration, development and production, suspension, abandonment, and after-care. Optionally, a sixth phase, in between production and suspension, can be to use the salt caverns (large brine-filled cavities in the salt that develop during production) for storage of a gas (natural gas, nitrogen, hydrogen, air) or a liquid (oil products). The environmental effects of salt mining are largely comparable to the mining effects of oil and gas operations in the Netherlands. Mining can result in ground subsidence, excess noise levels from drilling and production processes and production of saline wastewater. These effects also include the requirement for pipelines and cables installation as well as the (temporary) change of mostly agricultural land usage, hence changing the landscape to a limited extent.
Topics
TNO Identifier
1013583
Publisher
Amsterdam University Press
Source title
Geology of the Netherlands
Pages
603-627