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SUPER SALT MINE DISCOVERED IN
XINJIANG
An outsize salt mine with a proved reserve of 14.5
billion tons has been discovered in northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local government
sources said on Thursday.
The Qiao'erhe Salt Mine, the newly-discovered salt
mine, is about 50 kilometers southwest to the county
town of Baicheng, Aksu Prefecture. The Tuzimazi Salt
Mine, another mine simultaneously discovered in a
place 23 km northwest of the county town, boasts a
proved reserve of 146.26 million tons. Major part of
the salt in the two mine are exposed.
Aksu ranks the first in salt reserve in China, but
only a small part of the resources have been exploited,
according to a source with the prefectural government.
The proved salt reserve in the northern mountainous
areas of Aksu exceeds 20 billion tons, but the crude
salt output in the prefecture was only 20,100 tons
last year
Previously, 22 salt mines have been spotted in the
Aksu area, including five large ones. These salt mines
can provide salt for one billion people for nearly
5,500 years, calculating on the basis that one person
consumes 10 grams of salt daily.
Source: Xinhua
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