MIRNYI (Yakutia), April 14. /TASS/. Yakutia’s authorities plan to build a factory at the biggest in the republic salt deposit to process salt so that it is used for drilling in the Arctic regions. The investment project is not finalized yet, first deputy head of the Kempendyai district Nikolai Alexandrov told TASS on Friday.
"In our district, salt is extracted since 1935, and every year at this salt deposit we produce about three tonnes of salt, which we supply for agriculture and for diamond production," the official said. "Now we plan building a small factory, which costs 100 million rubles (about $1.8 million), to process salt so that it is used in drilling of oil wells and in the food sector."
He continued, saying now oil companies have while drilling wells have to substitute salt with expensive chemical elements.
"We want our salt to be used for this purpose," he said. "The work on this project featured the Kempendyai salt plant and Yakutia’s Agency for investment development."
"We have invited Alrosa (biggest diamond producer) to be the project’s investor on mutually advantageous conditions," he said. "The business plan was presented to Alrosa’s management in early March, and we are waiting for a feedback from the company."
The Kempendyai salt deposit is near the settlement of Kempendyai. The salt plant’s capacity is about 3,000 tonnes of salt a year, where 1,000 tonnes is food salt, and 2,500 tonnes is technical. Most product, about 60%, as technical salt is supplied to local housing maintenance companies, which use it for water purification, and 30% - to the exploration and extracting companies to use in drilling. The technical salt has passed the state certification.