It is very interesting to look on the Internet for a detailed and colorful description of the industrial process. It is unlikely that you will be able to visit these places yourself, but now you can imagine how it happens.
Let's take a look with the help of the photographer ANTONINO SAVOJARDO in the heart of Sicily - the largest island in the Mediterranean. There are some of the largest salt mines in Europe. Kilometers of underground tunnels, huge machines and excavators …
This is a mysterious, underground world of darkness and white gold of Sicily.
Salt deposits are nothing more than the remains of a dried up ancient ocean. Salt deposits can sometimes be underground at a depth of more than 1 km, or they can be on the surface of the Earth, where they form salt lakes.
Scientists have calculated that there is so much salt in the seawater of all seas and oceans that it could cover the entire globe with a crust 45 meters thick. Moreover, the share of all well-known table salt accounts for most of the "white gold".
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Rock salt can form huge mountains underground, not inferior in size to the highest peaks of the Caucasus and the Pamirs! The base of such mountains lies at a depth of 5-7 km, and the peaks rise to the surface of the Earth and can even protrude from it. These huge mountains are called the "Salt Domes".
When salt deposits are at a depth of 100 to 600 meters, open-pit mining of the salt deposit is impossible, and salt is mined by an underground (mine) method. More than 61% of the world's salt is produced in this way.
Salt extracted from mines is widely used in all areas of industry, agriculture and medicine.
This salt, located in the bowels of the Earth, originated many, many millions of years ago. Time made it very solid, solid - stone. But under the influence of high pressure and high temperature, the salt underground turns into a very plastic material.
Rock salt is mined by constructing mines in the thickness of the salt layer or dome. Laying of wide passages in the thickness of salt deposits is carried out using special cutting machines. A real monster:
The mining method of extracting salt has one serious drawback - the constant threat of collapse.
Every day, the quarries of Realmonte, Petralia and Racalmuto produce thousands of tons of salt, which then leave the port of Empedocle and head directly to northern Italy and northern Europe, where it is used in the food processing and chemical industries and for covering slippery roads in winter.
In terms of potash reserves, Italy occupies one of the leading places in Western Europe. On the island of Sicily in the province of Caltanissetta, industrial zones are represented by kainite and contain more than 13% K2O. The total reserves of kainite are estimated at 150 million tons.
The walls feature exciting patterns - concentric alternations of light and dark stripes. The natural phenomenon is simply explained: mineral deposits were formed gradually as the Mediterranean basin dried up. In winter and summer, due to the influence of different temperature regimes, the color of the sediment changed - this is how stains appeared, which today resemble a zebra.
Like many other salt mines in the world, one of the galleries in Realmonte has a church. There is an altar, frescoes and a crucifix. Everything, of course, is made from salt mined in the face. Up to 800 people can be in the church at the same time. Every year in December, a ceremony is held underground to honor St. Barbara, the patroness of miners.
Today Realmonte is a working mine. Tourist excursions are held in the worked out galleries. Salt mining plays a key role for the region's economy.