Been keeping an eye on - UTAH -
Seems their water levels in, Salt Lake have been in a continual decline.
Satellite Imagery Reveals How Utah's Great Salt Lake Is Disappearing
August 17, 2022
https://www.gim-international.com/content/news/satellite-imagery-reveals-how-utah-s-great-salt-lake-is-disappearing
There are two solution salt miners working the Salt Lake.
- Compass
- US Magnesium
And... apparently, one working belwo grade - underground mine.
Redmond mine.
https://redmond.life/pages/mine
And just recently, i found an article whereas, a Texa company wants to mine the magnesium
from the Ocean, Southern Texas with some resistence from locals over asthetics and property valuations. At 1,000 ppm MgCl = 1kg per cubic meter.
would take 1,000 cubics of ocean water = 1 tonne of Mg - or more -based on extraction recoveries.
From my perspective... looks like the states are scrambling for, Mg.
Now... one has ot wonder why the Salt Lake is diminishing.
Could be climate change.
Could be too much solution mining.
Could be, the water is lost due to fault line frsactures.
Wouldn't be the first time a lake vanishes due to salt mining - below ground.
Notice how the one fault line runs right along the - river - coming in from, Idaho.
If it's an issue of river fault, that would be quite hard to repair - due to - one would
have to blast the falut to patch the fault seem. If below lake, the water would run into the salt mines
and well... they'd have to resort to solution mining.
Doesnt help either.. when solution mining pulls from the lake and evaporates the salt waters
to pull the concentrate salts from the ponds.
Not a good position to be in, if one lives in Salt Lake City.
Humans need the water too.
IMAGES OF SALT LAKE -FAULTS.
https://geology.utah.gov/hazards/earthquakes/utah-faults/
Throw into the equation....
usa is experiencing drouts in several states, and it becomes a problem for farming and water consumption.
Why write a post like tihs ?
All because,,, magnesium is considered a macro fertilizer just as is, potassium and phosphates.
If Texas pushes through the mining of magnesium by way of, ocean - i'd say, they're in desperate need of, magnesium. Question becomes - what will become of, compass + us magnesium - will they be able to continue solution mining - due ot water restriction ?
Which points to -
Resource managers should begin opening up - salt hard rock - mines to allieviate the strains on water supplies which compete with human consumptions.
Though - H3 - is a wonderful idea....
Mg Fertilizer mined from hardrock - could also be a great path.
Fertilizers are on the price increase - so is water....
These could be considered - gold like - soon.
What will resource managers do ?
Will they cave, and continue to allow - solution mining ?
Here in Canada, the Diefenbaker Lkae in Saskatchewan has - 9 - fertilizer companies.
And... they solution mine.
Which means water is pulled from the deifenbaker lake - to place below to dissolve the salts below grade - then pumped up- to place in evaporation poinds. Which, the SUN + WIND gladly wisk away.
Some miners do perfrom - DsE - but.. not enough. ( reusing of the water without evap ponds. )
Cheers....