British Salt Limited is a
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
-based chemical company that produces pure white
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
. The company is owned by
Tata Chemicals Europe
Tata Chemicals Europe (formerly Brunner Mond (UK) Limited) is a UK-based Chemistry, chemicals company that is a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals, Tata Chemicals Limited, itself a part of the India-based Tata Group. Its principal products are soda a ...
after a buy out from private equity company LDC
in April 2010. It is based in
Middlewich
Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, east of Chester, east of Winsford, southeast of Northwich and northwest of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595. ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, employs 125 people, and produces approximately of pure white salt every year.
LDC bought British Salt from its previous owners,
US Salt Holdings LLC
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in 2007, investing £35m in the company. A management team has taken a minority stake.
US Salt had bought British Salt from its previous owners, Staveley Industries plc in 2000 for £80m.
In 2005, British Salt acquired
New Cheshire Salt Works Limited, known as NCSW Limited. This acquisition was referred to the
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...
who approved the purchase. Since the purchase the NCSW site in
Wincham
200px, Map of civil parish of Wincham in the former borough of Vale Royal
Wincham is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is about three miles nort ...
has been closed and the site sold to Chantry Developments.
The salt is extracted from strata that lie approximately below ground. Bore holes are drilled into the strata and water is forced down to dissolve the salt. The resulting
brine
Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...
solution is pumped along of pipes back to the surface and direct into the Middlewich factory for purification and water evaporation to produce the pure salt. It is estimated that there are salt reserves sufficient for 200 years.
The main uses for the salt products include:
*Water softeners
*Chemical industry
*Food processing
*Animal feeds
*Textiles and tanning
During the severe weather experienced in the UK in February 2009, British Salt also started to supply low-grade salt for de-icing of roads, after local authorities announced they were running very low on salt used for gritting due to the unexpected weather.
See also
*
History of salt in Middlewich
Middlewich, a town in northwest England, lies on the confluence of three rivers – the Dane, the Croco and the Wheelock. Most importantly for the history of salt making, it also lies on the site of a prehistoric brine spring.
Following the R ...
*
Winter storms of 2009–2010
Global weather activity of 2009 profiles the major worldwide storms, including blizzards, tornadoes, ice storms, tropical cyclones and other meteorogical events, from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2009. Wintery storms are events in which the d ...
References
External links
British Salt website
Chemical companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Cheshire
Middlewich
Snow removal
Salt production
Tata Chemicals
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