Salar del Hombre Muerto
The Salar del Hombre Muerto (German roughly: Dead Man's Salt Lake ) is a salt lake , or a salt flat in the northern Argentine department of Antofagasta de la Sierra in the province of Catamarca . The salt lake is one of the world's leading lithium - deposits .
geography
The 588 km 2 large Salar is located in the Argentine part of the Atacama Desert , some 100 km east of the Chilean border at an altitude of 4000 meters above sea level. The northern tip protrudes into the province of Salta , from where it can be reached by land via San Antonio de los Cobres .
description
In contrast to other salt lakes, condensation and precipitation can cause a small layer of water to form on the salt. The potassium content of the brine is 7–8 g / l and the lithium content 0.7–0.8 g / l.
Lithium mining
The relatively high lithium content makes it possible to the lithium from the Salar del Hombre Muerto economic gain . FMC Lithium Corp. and Rio Tinto Minerals have been operating the Tincalayu opencast mine in the central area of the salar since 1995 . The open pit is 1500 × 500 m in size and about 100 m deep. The annual production amounts to 130,000 t.
Sulphates , borates , rubidium , cesium and bromine are obtained as by-products .
Individual evidence
- ↑ D. Vinante, RN Alonso: Revista de la Asociación Geologica Argentina versión. Evapofacies del Salar Hombre Muerto, Puna argentina: distribucion y genesis. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 21, 2016 ; Retrieved July 10, 2013 (Spanish, ISSN 1851-8249 ). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- mineralienatlas.de: "Tincalayu Mine"
- NASA Earth Observatory
- catamarcaguia.com.ar: "Fenix - Salar del Hombre Muerto" ( Memento of November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- oni.escuelas.edu.ar: "Salar Hombre Muerto"
Coordinates: 25 ° 25 ′ S , 67 ° 4 ′ W
