The Udon North Mine is a large

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

in Udon Thani Province. The project is approximately 15-20 kilometres southeast of the city of Udon Thani. The project area, including Udon South Mine, covers five sub-districts including Non Sung, Nong Phai, and Nong Khon Kwang of Mueang Udon Thani District together with Huai Sam Phat and Na Muang Sub-districts of

Prachaksinlapakhom District Prachaksinlapakhom ( th, ประจักษ์ศิลปาคม) is a district (''amphoe'') in central Udon Thani province, northeastern Thailand. Geography Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Nong Han, Ku Kaeo, Kumphawa ...

. Northeast Thailand is believed to contain the world's third-largest—after Canada and Russia—unexploited potash reserves.

Operations

Mining operations occupy an area of about 26,446 rai or 42.3 km² which consists of the processing plant area of 1,250 rai (2 km²) and an underground mine. The mine is an underground

room and pillar Room and pillar or pillar and stall is a variant of breast stoping. It is a mining system in which the mined material is extracted across a horizontal plane, creating horizontal arrays of rooms and pillars. To do this, "rooms" of ore are dug out w ...

mine projected to reach depths of 350–380 metres. Udon North and South represent one of the largest

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

reserves in

, having estimated reserves of 665 million tonnes of ore grading 16 percent

potassium chloride Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt ...

extracted from

sylvite Sylvite, or sylvine, is potassium chloride (KCl) in natural mineral form. It forms crystals in the isometric system very similar to normal rock salt, halite ( NaCl). The two are, in fact, isomorphous. Sylvite is colorless to white with shades of ...

ore. With a construction budget of more than 30 billion

baht The baht (; th, บาท, ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. Society for Worldw ...

, the project is slated to have a maximum capacity of two million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s of potash a year.

Local opposition

mining had not begun at at least some sites due to local opposition. Concerns include questions about the disposal of mine

tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlie ...

, a waste rock by-product and projected land subsidance. New mining legislation in the form of a minerals act to be enacted 29 October 2017, has increased fears among activists that its intent is to dampen public participation in mining decisions while expediting mining projects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Udon North Mine Potash mines in Thailand