SALTS FROM THE DEAD SEA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3378, 13 June 1927, Page 7

SALTS FROM THE DEAD SEA.

A special correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle records that the Colonial Office and the Government of Palestine are about to grant a concession for the exploitation of the salts in the Dead Sea. It is a year and a half since tenders were invited, and twelve months since they were received. . . There -was not keen competition lor the concession. Tenders have been reduced to two or three and will be, probably, associated in one group. The concession is to be for 21 or' 25 years, and the concessionaire will be called upon to make contributions to the revenue of Palestine.

Before committing themselves to a policy the official authorities carried out detailed investigations—geological, chemical, mineralogical, sanitary—spread over three years. They also undertook experimental production and carried on laboratory tests in London. The Colonial Office appointed a Committee which issued a report on the “possible commercial utilisation of Dead Sea brine for the manufacture of potash and other salts.” The conclusions of the Committee were that, from a technical standpoint, there is no insuperable difficulty in extracting 100,000 tons of potash a year from the salts of the Dead Sea. A product containing 70 per cent, of potash can be extracted by solar evaporation. Practically unlimited quantities of common salt and magnesium can be obtained and much smaller quantities of caustic potash and bromine.

Major Brock, in a report to the Government, analysed the mineral wealth of the Dead Sea, and estimated that the deposits of potash, after concentration, amount to 2,000,000,000 metric tons, and says that the supplies are practically inexhaustible. The sources of the world supply of potash are limited. Before the war Germany had a practical monopoly, a considerable proportion of which came from mines at Stassfurt, in Alsace, now belinging to France. A Franco-German combine now exists for regulating world supplies; each country, after supplying its own needs, divides the world —two-thirds of the export trade going to Germany and one to France. Potash in France and Germany is obtained from mines. The Dead Sea is a unique geological phenomenon. . It is one of the most romantic and historic spots in the world—a cradle of civilisation. The deep valley, or “fault,” which forms its bed dates from the Pleistocene period. Through the ages the level of the Dead Sea has fallen, and its area has narrowed. It is now 1300 ft below the level of the Mediterranean; it is 47 miles in length and five to nine miles wide. Solar evaporation is the cause of the shrinkage. The waters of the Dead Sea have been getting more and more saline. While the waters of the ocean contain 4.6 per cent, of salt, the Dead Sea, contains 25 per, cent. No animal life can exist in it;''the human body floats on its surface.

To the north is the valley of the Jordan (which flows into the Dead Sen), which is a comparatively flat area. It is here that evaporating pans of clay (found on the spot), or cement, will be constructed for the first process of crystallation. In the next step of evaporation potash and the more valuable salts will be produced. It is considered that solar heat will be quite adequate. Power will be required for some of the products. Tire disposal of the common salt, the chief residue, is, as the Government experts point out, a serious problem. For every ton of 80 per cent, potash five tons of salt will be produced, so that the concessionaries may be . left with half a million tons of salt a year.

Transport is a problem also for the manufactured product. The railway from Joppa, ends ends at Jerusalem, 18 miles away. A new railway will have to be built up a very steep incline, or a pipe: line laid, or road transmission adopted. The Government Committee and experts were extremely cautious in their estimate of the commercial possibilities of the Dead Sea. It may bo a speculative enterprise, or, given exploitation of this source of an inexhaustible wealth on a big scale and under good management it may well become a new land flowing with milk and honey—a factor in the industrial revival and prosperity of Palestine.