Brazil has the largest rock salt ore reserve in Latin America

Brazil is the ninth largest salt producer in the world, with 7 million tons recorded in 2022 alone. Despite the good ranking, the production of rock salt ore in the country has been declining in recent years. This leads Brazil to increase imports of salt, both rock salt for various industries and salt by solar evaporation for food. The information is from the National Mining Agency (ANM).

According to ANM, Espírito Santo now has the largest rock salt reserve in Latin America. Altogether there are 12.2 billion tons distributed in 11 areas to be explored, which corresponds to 70% of the current national reserve. Many are located in the municipalities of Conceição da Barra, Ecoporanga and Vila Pavão. The expectation is that the mineral represents a new economic cycle for the region and also for the state. But it will still take time, as this type of undertaking requires years to be put into practice, without taking into account the research period, points out the agency.

Rock salt is formed by the precipitation of sodium chloride salts (NaCl), with the crystallization of the mineral known as halite. It is a versatile and very important raw material in the Brazilian industry. The senior technologist at the Center for Mineral Technology (Cetem), of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luís Carlos Bertolino, points out that rock salt extraction is done by solubilizing the salt in depth. From that moment on, this solubilized material is taken to the surface, where fractional precipitation takes place to remove potassium, chlorine, among others. The rest of the material is dispensed.

Public hearing on rock salt

Deputy Evair Vieira de Melo (PP-ES) requested a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies to discuss the importance of this mineral. According to the parliamentarian, it is undeniable that rock salt is a relevant wealth for economic development and the generation of employment, income and social inclusion for the country. He said that the subject had been forgotten over the years and also points out that Brazil has many challenges to advance in the exploration of this mineral.

“For the extraction, exploitation and processing of rock salt, energy is an important asset that will dialogue with Espírito Santo. The challenge is, together with Petrobras, to break the gas chain and be able to offer cheap gas to the industry with cheap energy and, as a result, make viable not only the extraction, but also the processing and industrialization of products based on rock salt ”, emphasizes the deputy.

Cetem’s senior technologist explains that rock salt is made up of three minerals: halite, sylvite and carnalite. Silvite is a potassium chloride, which is the main source of potassium used in Brazil. With few exploration areas, the country becomes dependent on this mineral. For the specialist, the exploration of rock salt would then be a great possibility to replace imports and the country to leverage the economy.

“In terms of potash, we are really dependent on external sources, this is where Russia comes in as a major supplier and Brazil is dependent. So now, with the issue of Russia’s war with Ukraine, this good becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate internationally and ends up increasing the value of the product in the domestic market. And this is reflected in the price of these commodities Brazilian crops such as soybeans, sugar cane, corn, among others”, he evaluates.

Luís Carlos Bertolino explains that Brazil has few mining concessions for rock salt in relation to the size of the national territory. “Brazil is a country that is highly dependent on imports of potassium from other countries, such as Russia, and despite being a country with a large territorial area and a great diversity of types of rocks, unfortunately it maintains restricted potassium deposits”, he says. The specialist.