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Post by peter77 on Feb 7, 2013 0:03:11 GMT -5
A friend involving my own claims his friend produced these items termed potash. What exactly is it? Precisely how is it produced? I tried out yahoo and google and that came up upwards seemed to be potasium carbonate which in turn clearly is not a type of food! Please help!
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Post by dazbt on Feb 7, 2013 3:01:59 GMT -5
A friend involving my own claims his friend produced these items termed potash. What exactly is it? Precisely how is it produced? I tried out yahoo and google and that came up upwards seemed to be potasium carbonate which in turn clearly is not a type of food! Please help! Fraid I can't help you Peter, we don't have Potash in Barnsley, occasionally we do have Corned Beef Hash and even Lancashire Hotpot but sadly no Potash. |
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Post by John on Feb 7, 2013 7:11:05 GMT -5
It's an evaporite from an ancient sea that was landlocked and dried out, much like the Dead Sea in the Middle East of today, in fact potash is extracted by the Israeli's from it as we sit here typing.
Potash, like coal and oil can be made into many useful products, from soft soaps to special types of glass, but it's main use is a constituent of fertilizer.
It's actually a potassium salt and was made years ago by boiling wood ash from home fires in a cast iron pot..hence its' name of "Potash"
The main "beds" of potash are found in Germany, Spain, UK, Canada and the USA...There are smaller deposits in Russia, Chine, Australia, Israel etc..
It's colour is actually white when processed, but in seam it has a beautiful pinky red hue from other minerals._
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Post by John on Feb 7, 2013 12:11:47 GMT -5
I should also add, most potash deposits are very deep below the surface, try a couple of Km's, so conditions are pretty warm.
How is it mined??? Bord and Pillar is usually used, modified to suit local conditions and depths, either undercut, drilled and fired, then loaded out with LHD's or mined with Continuous miners and shuttle cars.
Some mines even use the longwall method using shearers, shields for support as in modern coal mining.
Again only if conditions are right.
The only potash mine in the UK uses continuous miners and shuttle cars feeding a ratio feeder breaker onto trunk conveyor belts. They cannot use the longwall mechanised methods due to a water bearing strata above them.
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