Salt may appear in veins, as does coal. Veins are the original bedded salt deposits. Salt also may be found in domes, which were formed when Earth pressures forced salt up through cracks in the bedrock from depths as great as 30,000 or 40,000 feet; they resemble plugs of almost-circular shape a few hundred yards to a mile across. Some domes occur close to the surface. Both domes and veins are mined in a similar way. Most domes in North America are located in the south from Alabama to Texas with many out under water in the Gulf of Mexico.
To enter a salt mine, miners go down a shaft from the Earth’s surface to the salt bed. There are two shafts in each Morton mine – one for personnel and one to lower materials and equipment into the mine, as well as to hoist the mined rock salt to the surface. The shafts also are used to deliver a constant supply of fresh air to the miners while they work hundreds to thousands of feet below the surface. Most mine shafts are lined with a concrete wall called a shaft liner.
Salt is mined by the room and pillar method. It is removed in a checkerboard pattern to leave permanent, solid salt pillars for mine roof support. Usually 45 to 65 percent of the salt is removed. The room height may average 18 feet in a bedded deposit to 100 feet in a dome mine.
Normally, the first operation is undercutting. Large machines cut a slot 10 or more feet in depth across the bottom of a solid salt wall. This leaves a smooth floor for picking up the salt after blasting.
Next, small holes are drilled into the salt wall to a depth of 10 or more feet and explosives are loaded into the drilled holes. After the work shift, the explosives are set off electrically. Several hundred to several thousand tons of rock salt are blasted and fall onto the mine floor.
Equipment is used to load and haul the salt to machines that crush and feed the salt onto a conveyor belt. The lumps are conveyed to a series of stations for crushing and additional sizing of the lumps. The salt is then placed in a storage bin to await hoisting to the surface.
The above ground processing of the rock salt consists of screening the mined salt into various marketable sizes by sorting through mechanically operated screens. When separated, each size is conveyed to its individual storage bin to await packaging for shipment or to be loaded as bulk salt into railroad cars, trucks, river barges or lake boats for shipment to customers.
dont forget after blasting and clearing they then have to scab the loose rock off the roof to make sure non falls later (father and grandfather were both rock salt miners in the uk)
The perfect seasoning for tendies.
"Extra Salty"
Very nice!
We have the best salt don't we folks?
That I can tell you.
Salt may appear in veins, as does coal. Veins are the original bedded salt deposits. Salt also may be found in domes, which were formed when Earth pressures forced salt up through cracks in the bedrock from depths as great as 30,000 or 40,000 feet; they resemble plugs of almost-circular shape a few hundred yards to a mile across. Some domes occur close to the surface. Both domes and veins are mined in a similar way. Most domes in North America are located in the south from Alabama to Texas with many out under water in the Gulf of Mexico.
To enter a salt mine, miners go down a shaft from the Earth’s surface to the salt bed. There are two shafts in each Morton mine – one for personnel and one to lower materials and equipment into the mine, as well as to hoist the mined rock salt to the surface. The shafts also are used to deliver a constant supply of fresh air to the miners while they work hundreds to thousands of feet below the surface. Most mine shafts are lined with a concrete wall called a shaft liner.
Salt is mined by the room and pillar method. It is removed in a checkerboard pattern to leave permanent, solid salt pillars for mine roof support. Usually 45 to 65 percent of the salt is removed. The room height may average 18 feet in a bedded deposit to 100 feet in a dome mine.
Normally, the first operation is undercutting. Large machines cut a slot 10 or more feet in depth across the bottom of a solid salt wall. This leaves a smooth floor for picking up the salt after blasting.
Next, small holes are drilled into the salt wall to a depth of 10 or more feet and explosives are loaded into the drilled holes. After the work shift, the explosives are set off electrically. Several hundred to several thousand tons of rock salt are blasted and fall onto the mine floor.
Equipment is used to load and haul the salt to machines that crush and feed the salt onto a conveyor belt. The lumps are conveyed to a series of stations for crushing and additional sizing of the lumps. The salt is then placed in a storage bin to await hoisting to the surface.
The above ground processing of the rock salt consists of screening the mined salt into various marketable sizes by sorting through mechanically operated screens. When separated, each size is conveyed to its individual storage bin to await packaging for shipment or to be loaded as bulk salt into railroad cars, trucks, river barges or lake boats for shipment to customers.
That's the most amazing thing I've read in a very long time! Very cool!
...I suppose so. ¯_(ツ)_/¯. But salt from liberal tears are the best!
dont forget after blasting and clearing they then have to scab the loose rock off the roof to make sure non falls later (father and grandfather were both rock salt miners in the uk)
I've tried other salts. Believe me. They're just Ok. Not like this salt. This salt is fantastic.
You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it.