Photo shows salt crystals on the gobi desert in Golmud city, northwest China's Qinghai Province. (People's Daily Online/Liu Peiran)
Qarhan Salt Lake, China's largest salt lake, has transformed Golmud city in northwest China's Qinghai Province into what is now known as "China's salt lake city."
According to official data, Qarhan Salt Lake contains approximately 60 billion tonnes of sodium salt reserves, enough to supply 6 billion people for 1,000 years. The lake's potassium, magnesium, and lithium resources rank first in China, with a potential economic value reaching hundreds of trillions of yuan (1 yuan equals about $0.14).
Like an emerald nestled in the Qaidam Basin, Qarhan Salt Lake holds secrets that extend well beyond common table salt.
Potassium chloride is a crucial agricultural fertilizer, yet until 1954, China had not discovered any potash deposits.
Photo shows a bird's-eye view of Qarhan Salt Lake in Golmud city, northwest China's Qinghai Province. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Liyang)
Decades ago, after numerous unsuccessful attempts elsewhere, a group of Chinese geological experts turned their attention to the Qaidam Basin. There, at Qarhan Salt Lake, they discovered carnallite occurring in symbiosis with potash-bearing rock salt. Following this discovery, a 19-member team arrived at the lake and successfully extracted more than 10 kilograms of potassium chloride, with a purity of approximately 50 percent, from the brine of the salt lake.
Over the past six decades, successive generations of salt lake workers have pursued relentless innovation and made breakthrough achievements—mastering five different potash fertilizer production processes and achieving significant capacity improvements. The enhanced production of potash fertilizers has strengthened food security for the entire nation.
Currently, the Qaidam Basin, anchored by Qarhan Salt Lake, has become China's largest and the world's fourth-largest potash fertilizer production base.
Thanks to technological advancement, modern potash production now relies primarily on physical methods, virtually eliminating pollution concerns, said Hao Yong, safety supervisor at the potash fertilizer company under Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Minmetals.
Photo shows a view of Qarhan Salt Lake in Golmud city, northwest China's Qinghai Province. (People's Daily Online/Liu Peiran)
The Qaidam Basin encompasses 33 large and medium-sized salt lakes. After years of sustained growth, the salt lake industry has evolved into one of Qinghai Province's pillar industries, providing tens of thousands of employment opportunities.
In recent years, Qinghai has issued a series of strategic documents promoting the robust development of the salt lake industry.
Golmud exemplifies this trend. Following the introduction of the reform and opening up policy in 1978, the local salt lake chemical industry has maintained rapid development, establishing five major industrial clusters covering potash, sodium, magnesium, lithium salts, and chlor-alkali products.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), Golmud, focusing on the salt lake chemical sector, has achieved the capacity to produce 8 million tonnes of potash fertilizer, 1 million tonnes of soda ash, 420,000 tonnes of potassium hydroxide, 105,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, 1,500 tonnes of metallic lithium, and 3,100 tonnes of organic lithium compounds.
Photo shows a potash fertilizer production line of the potash fertilizer company under Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd. in northwest China's Qinghai Province. (People's Daily Online/Liu Peiran)
The potash fertilizer production workshops beside Qarhan Salt Lake have achieved essentially full automation, producing high-quality potash fertilizer with 95 percent potassium content.
"Currently, we operate four potash fertilizer production workshops here with an annual output of 5 million tonnes, alongside nearby sodium and lithium salt production facilities," said Guo Quanli, deputy director of the first production workshop of the potash fertilizer company under Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd.
Photo shows salt lake products on display at the 26th China Qinghai Investment and Trade Fair for Green Development in northwest China's Qinghai Province. (People's Daily Online/Liu Peiran)
