Shark bay salt

The Shark Bay Salt Field, located within the Shark Bay World Heritage Property, 830 kilometres north of Perth, in Western Australia, was constructed in the 1962 by Shark Bay Resources Pty Ltd. The first salt shipment left the field in 1967. Construction of the field was obtained by enclosing natural inlets. The seawater is trapped in the first evaporation pond which is part of the 64 square kilometre Useless Inlet area.This pond includes evaporators (operational ponds) that incorporate the use of natural tidal movements for its salt production operation.

Shark Bay Salt Field Encompasses 130 Square Kilometres of World Heritage Property

The concentrated brine that accumulates in the Useless Inlet area is moved into the Useless Loop area through a flume 20 kilometres in length. The Useless Loop area is made up of 37 crystalliser ponds of all shapes and sizes. It also has its own salt washing facility, its own loading port and stockpile area. The Shark Bay salt field takes in around 130 square kilometres of the Shark Bay World Heritage Property. Seventy square kilometres of the area is used as operational ponds. The sea water in the ponds is around 50 percent saltier than natural seawater.

Shark Bay Salt Pty Ltd Provide Employees With a Residential Village at Useless Loop

The Shark Bay Salt Field is now wholly owned by Shark Bay Salt Pty Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Japanese company, Mitsui and Company, one of the most diversified service, investment and trading organisations in the world. The company provides its workers and their families with a residential village at Useless Loop, near to the salt mining operation. The village provides schooling, recreational facilities and housing.

Shark Bay Salt Field Produces Around 1.4 Million Tonnes of Salt a Year

Shark Bay Salt Pty Ltd employ around 200 people at its two Western Australian salt fields, one at Shark Bay and the other at Onslow. Parent company, Mitsui, became involved in the Shark Bay Salt project in 1973 as a joint venture partner with an Australian owned company, Shark Bay Resources Limited. Mitsui acquired sole ownership of the operation in 2005. It incorporated Shark Bay Salt Pty Ltd in 2015. Salt export from the Shark Bay salt field averages around 1.4 million tonnes a year. The salt, although sold in world industrial markets, is mainly sold to high-end food markets. It is highly valued by food manufacturers for its distinctive purity and texture. Shark Bay Salt's main product is sea salt (solar marine salt) for both domestic and export markets.

Sea salt (sodium chloride) is a chemical extracted from seawater by means of solar evaporation. It has been traditionally used as a preservative in the food manufacturing industry. It is also a major raw material used in chlor-alkali factories that produce soda ash, chlorine and caustic soda (sodium hydroxide).