Bex Salt Mine
The Bex salt mine is located in the Swiss municipality of Bex [ be ] in the canton of Vaud and is operated by Saline de Bex SA , formerly the Société vaudois des Mines et salines de Bex . The Swiss cantons obtain their gritting and table salt from the Swiss salt pans near Basel as part of the salt shelf , only the canton of Vaud has its own rock salt warehouse near Bex.
Formation of the salt deposit
During the Mesozoic era , the Bex area had a warm climate, and instead of today's Rhone Valley, there was a shallow sea in the Triassic . The evaporated sea salt was later covered by other marine deposits and finally included in the folding of the Alps.
History of the mine
In 1680 it was discovered the salt deposits in Le Bévieux at Bex and four years later were tunnels driven into the mountain to the " white gold " reduce . Until the 18th century the salt was mined (dry), since the 19th century wet mining has been used, i.e. H. water is drawn into the bearings to dissolve the salt in them. The brine is then pumped up, the water evaporates again and the salt obtained from it is purified and processed. A 50-kilometer-long labyrinth of corridors and shafts now runs through the mountain and the salt mine extracts a volume of 10,000 tons of salt per year.
Visitor mine
A visitor zone has been set up in part of the salt mine. This entrance to the tunnel system is not in Bévieux, but north of Bex at the entrance to the valley of the Gryonne river ( Lage ). A tunnel train leads visitors into the mountain, where information is provided about the geology and mining techniques from then and now. There is also the visitor restaurant in one of the tunnels.
literature
- Jürg-Peter Huber: Mosaic Switzerland. 400 sights from art, museums, nature . Hallwag, Bern 1995, DNB 948944560 .
