![]() Surface plant at Winsford Salt Mine | |
Location | |
---|---|
Location | Winsford |
County | Cheshire |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 53°12′32″N2°31′08″W / 53.209°N 2.519°W |
Production | |
Products | Halite (rock salt) |
Production | 2,200,000 tonnes (2,400,000 tons) [1] |
Financial year | 2020 |
Greatest depth | 150 metres (490 ft) |
History | |
Discovered | 1844 |
Opened | 1844 |
Active | 1844–1892 1928–present |
Owner | |
Company | Compass Minerals |
Website | Official website |
Year of acquisition | 2003 |
Winsford Mine (also known as Meadow Bank Mine) is a halite (rock salt) mine in the town of Winsford, Cheshire, England. The mine produces an average of 1,500,000 tonnes (1,700,000 tons) of rock salt a year, which is used to grit public roads in the United Kingdom during the winter months. Two other mines also produce rock salt within the United Kingdom, but Winsford has the biggest output of all three and has the largest market share.
It is also Britain's oldest working mine.
The salt in the area was discovered by accident when workers were looking for coal reserves to heat saltpans. [2] [3] It was opened out in 1844, but a downturn in the rock salt market led to its closure in 1892. It was re-opened in 1928 when a nearby salt mine, the Marston Mine in Northwich, was subjected to flooding after subsidence. [4] [5] [6] The salt was laid down during the Triassic period over 220 million years ago when the area was under a tropical sea, and later a briny lagoon. [7] Reserves in the mine area have an estimated life until the year 2076, though this is dependent on planning permissions. [8]
The mine, which is sometimes referred to by its old name of Meadow Bank Mine, [9] has over 260 kilometres (160 mi) of tunnels which are held in place by a room and pillar method of mining. This leaves around 25% of the available rock salt behind to support the roof of the mineworkings. [3] The salt content of the mined rock is around 92%, and whilst the majority of the product mined is used as road salt, some is used in fertiliser manufacture. [10] [11]
Although the mine was mothballed between 1892 and 1928, it is Britain's oldest working mine. [12] It was granted an extension to its mining licence in 2012 which will see mining continuing to at least 2047. [13] The mine produces 950,000–1,000,000 tonnes (1,050,000–1,100,000 tons) of rock salt each year (30,000 tonnes (33,000 tons) a week at peak production) and has a marketshare of around 90%. [14] During the 19th century, export of the salt was by barge or boat on the River Weaver, but when the mine reopened in 1928, a railway connection was laid. [15]
In the heavy snowfall of January 2010, lorries were shown on national TV at the mine surface plant loading salt supplies for many local authorities in England who were running out of stock for their gritters. Then prime minister, Gordon Brown, issued a plea to the mine's owners to increase production. [16]
Of the three mines in the United Kingdom which produce rock salt, Winsford Mine has the largest marketshare. In 2004, 2,000,000 tonnes (2,200,000 tons) was the combined output from all three mines, with over 900,000 tonnes (990,000 tons) being mined at Winsford. [17] [18]
In 2006, it was estimated that the mine had over 26,000,000 cubic metres (920,000,000 cu ft) of free space, a dry humidity, a near constant temperature, and unlike many old collieries, is gas free. Some of this has been given over to the storage of hazardous wastes which are non-radioactive. [19] [20] The most notable storage commodity is documents and books; in 1998, Deepstore was created at Winsford Mine with documents form the National archives|National Archives stored there. [21] They are protected against heat, humidity, ultra-violet light, rodents and flooding. [22] The National Archives shelf space at Deepstore takes up over 32 kilometres (20 mi). [23]
Hazardous waste storage at the site was granted a licence extension in 2022 of twenty years on its original permission (which was until 2025). The company can now keep storing wastes until 2045. [24]
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a 'pit', and the above-ground structures are a 'pit head'. In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
Halite, commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride (NaCl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on inclusion of other materials, impurities, and structural or isotopic abnormalities in the crystals. It commonly occurs with other evaporite deposit minerals such as several of the sulfates, halides, and borates. The name halite is derived from the Ancient Greek word for "salt", ἅλς (háls).
Northwich is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies in the heart of the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane. The town is about 18 miles (29 km) east of Chester, 15 miles (24 km) south of Warrington, and 19 miles (31 km) south of Manchester.
In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlies an ore or mineral body and is displaced during mining without being processed.
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the 18th century, allowing freight to be conveyed northwards to the Port of Runcorn on the River Mersey. The town of Winsford has an estimated population of 35,000 in 2023.
The Orapa diamond mine is the world's largest diamond mine by area. The mine is located in Orapa, a town in the Central District of Botswana about 240 km (150 mi) west of the city of Francistown. Orapa is owned by Debswana, a partnership between the De Beers company and the government of Botswana. The mine was discovered on 1 March 1967, a year after Botswana's independence, by a team of De Beers geologists, including Manfred Marx, Jim Gibson and led by Dr. Gavin Lamont. It is the oldest of four mines operated by the company, and began operations in July 1971 and its first production was 1,438,168 carats. The revenue the mine generated is credited for transforming the Botswana economy, as it allowed the government to invest in critical social services and national infrastructure.
Compass Minerals International, Inc is a public company that, through its subsidiaries, is a leading producer of minerals, including salt, magnesium chloride and sulfate of potash. Based in Overland Park, Kansas; the company provides bulk treated and untreated highway deicing salt to customers in North America and the United Kingdom and plant nutrition products to growers worldwide. Compass Minerals also produces consumer deicing and water conditioning products, consumer and commercial culinary salt, and other mineral-based products for consumer, agricultural and industrial applications. In addition, Compass Minerals provides records management services to businesses throughout the United Kingdom.
Cerrejón is a large open-pit coal mine in Northern Colombia owned by Glencore. At Cerrejón, low-ash, low-sulphur bituminous coal from the Cerrejón Formation is excavated. At over 690 square kilometres (270 sq mi) the mine is one of the largest of its type, the largest in Latin America and the tenth biggest in the world. Cerrejón is divided into three sections, North Zone, Central Zone and South Zone. Total proven reserves are estimated at 503 megatonnes. In 2016, the mine produced 32,683,315 tonnes.
A deep geological repository is a way of storing hazardous or radioactive waste within a stable geologic environment. It entails a combination of waste form, waste package, engineered seals and geology that is suited to provide a high level of long-term isolation and containment without future maintenance. This will prevent any radioactive dangers. A number of mercury, cyanide and arsenic waste repositories are operating worldwide including Canada and Germany and a number of radioactive waste storages are under construction with the Onkalo in Finland being the most advanced.
The Bingham Canyon Mine, more commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among locals, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is the largest man-made excavation, and deepest open-pit mine in the world, which is considered to have produced more copper than any other mine in history – more than 19,000,000 short tons. The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian multinational corporation. The copper operations at Bingham Canyon Mine are managed through Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter, and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.75 miles (1,210 m) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine. The mine experienced a massive landslide in April 2013 and a smaller slide in September 2013.
Boulby Mine is a 200-hectare (490-acre) site located just south-east of the village of Boulby, on the north-east coast of the North York Moors in Loftus, North Yorkshire England. It is run by Cleveland Potash Limited, which is now a subsidiary of Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL).
Cheshire is a county in North West England. Rock salt was laid down in this region some 220 million years ago, during the Triassic period. Seawater moved inland from an open sea, creating a chain of shallow salt marshes across what is today the Cheshire Basin. As the marshes evaporated, deep deposits of rock salt were formed.
Salt End or Saltend is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in an area known as Holderness. It is situated on the north bank of the Humber Estuary just outside the Hull eastern boundary on the A1033 road. It forms part of the civil parish of Preston.
Mining is important to the economy of Ethiopia as a diversification from agriculture. Currently, mining comprises only 1% of GDP. Gold, gemstones, and industrial minerals are important commodities for the country's export-oriented growth strategy.
The Winsford and Over branch line was a railway line serving the town of Winsford in Cheshire. It was operated by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) from 1870 until the railways were nationalised under the Transport Act 1947, which took effect on 1 January 1948. Thereafter the branch was operated by British Railways London Midland Region until the line's closure in 1967.
The history of Northwich can be traced back to the Roman period. The area around Northwich has been exploited for its salt pans since this time. The town has been severely affected by salt mining with subsidence historically being a large issue. A programme of mine stabilisation has recently been undertaken.
Mining in the United Kingdom produces a wide variety of fossil fuels, metals, and industrial minerals due to its complex geology. In 2013, there were over 2,000 active mines, quarries, and offshore drilling sites on the continental land mass of the United Kingdom producing £34bn of minerals and employing 36,000 people.
Beckermet Mines railway station was situated at Pit No.1 of the mine of the same name. It was used by workmen's trains which travelled along a branch which curved eastwards off the Moor Row to Sellafield line, primarily to handle the iron ore lifted at the site.
A flash is a body of water that forms where the land below it has subsided. Whilst these are mostly found in areas where mining has taken place, some can occur naturally. Collectively they are known as Flashes
Kilton Viaduct was a railway viaduct that straddled Kilton Beck, near to Loftus, in North Yorkshire, England. The viaduct was opened to traffic in 1867, however in 1911, with the viaduct suffering subsidence from the nearby ironstone mining, the whole structure was encased in waste material from the mines creating an embankment which re-opened fully to traffic in 1913. The railway closed in 1963, but then in 1974, it re-opened as part of the freight line to Boulby Mine carrying potash traffic.