Sylvinite is a sedimentary rock made of a mechanical mixture of the minerals sylvite (KCl, or potassium chloride) and halite (NaCl, or sodium chloride). Sylvinite is the most important source for the production of potash in North America, Russia and the UK. Most Canadian operations mine sylvinite with proportions of approximately 31% KCl and 66% NaCl with the balance being insoluble clays, anhydrite and in some locations carnallite. Other deposits of sylvinite are located in Belarus, Brazil, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Spain.
References
Wardlaw, Norman C. (1968). "Carnallite-Sylvite Relationships in the Middle Devonian Prairie Evaporite Formation, Saskatchewan". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 79 (10): 1273–1294. Bibcode:1968GSAB...79.1273W. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1968)79[1273:CRITMD]2.0.CO;2. /wiki/Bibcode_(identifier) ↩
Weiss N.L., SME Mineral Processing Handbook 1985, Page 22-2 ↩
Weiss N.L., SME Mineral Processing Handbook 1985, Page 22-2 ↩
"Potash". Mineral Planning Factsheet. British Geological Survey. 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2017. http://www.bgs.ac.uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=1367 ↩
"Sylvinite". mindat.org. 29 December 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2017. https://www.mindat.org/min-6360.html ↩