Boulby Mine

The Cleveland Potash Mine, also known as Boulby Mine is a potash mine in Redcar and Cleveland, England, United Kingdom, which is operated in civil engineering. It is located at Boulby on the North Sea coast of the North York Moors.

100 % with Israel Chemicals belonging Boulby Mine is the only producer of nitrogen fertilizer in the UK and covered with a total production capacity of approximately 4.0 million tonnes per year ( potash and rock salt ) is about 55 % of the domestic demand. During the mining goes back at Boulby to the time before written records, the Potash Mine dates from the late 20th century: the construction began in 1969, the first salt mining in 1973 In addition to sylvite as a raw material for the fertilizer industry, the mine promotes as a by- product rock salt that. is used regionally for use in winter Faithful Service.

The route system extends below ground about 15 km; approximately 850 employees support about three million tons of potash and 0.6 million tonnes of rock salt (2004) annually. The rock salt is in 1200 to 1500 meters depth. The seam has a maximum thickness of up to 20 meters; the average width of seven meters. The deposit was formed in Permian by the evaporation of Zechsteinmeers. Boulby is located on the western edge of the Zechstein, located mainly under the North Sea and Continental Europe. Directly above the sylvite is the halite, which also comes from the Zechstein and not so large thickness changes as the potash seam has. Overall, the Zechstein layers at this point is about 150 meters thick. Probably potassium chloride and Halitschicht originated in an exceptionally flat area in which ausprägte a large salt lake in the Permian.

The mine began when sinking a shaft the freezing process to stabilize the ground. In this Boulby civil engineering was used to a depth of 975 meters. Due to the great depth and the associated shielding against cosmic radiation, the basic physical research of the mine operated in the Boulby Underground Laboratory run various experiments. From 1987 to 2007, the UK Dark Matter Collaboration was located at 1,100 meters depth, which was looking for WIMPs. Since this experiment was set, the laboratory for large-scale experiments ZEPLIN III and DRIFT - II is used.

Arrears

Due to the location within the National Park Cleveland Potash not got permission aufzuhalden residues. Therefore, the tailings, mainly clays, gypsum and salt, but also heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury, rinsed through a 1.8 km long pipeline in the North Sea.

Surface installations

The ground facilities leave little of the great underground expansion of the mine recognize. Since they are located in a national park, they should fit harmoniously into the landscape. They are built of locally occurring materials, the walls are made ​​of natural stone, the roofs of slate. While the building accommodates particularly Ventilation installation, they should give the impression of a farm outside.

The two winding towers of the mine have an unusual, cylindrical architecture.