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We produce rock salt from underground mines using both drill-and-blast and continuous mining techniques. Our rock salt mines are located between 500 feet and 1,800 feet below ground, and our mine in Goderich, Ontario, is the largest rock salt mine in the world. The drill-and-blast mining method begins by cutting into the rock salt face using specialized equipment. We then drill holes into the face and use explosives to break the salt into small pieces. Diesel powered front end loaders and trucks, identical to the machines that perform earthwork on the surface, load and haul the salt to a crusher where it is reduced in size, loaded onto a conveyor belt and transported to a mill. The mill screens and crushes the rock salt to the required sizes before the salt is hoisted to the surface. The continuous mining method, which we employ at our mine in Winsford, Cheshire, uses state-of-the-art machines with steel cutting picks to shear salt from the rock face, thus avoiding the need for explosives. We extract salt from each mine in rectangular “room” sections, leaving behind vast “pillars” of salt to support the mine structure. Facilities
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