Botswana’s salt of the earth

Botash produces the most soda ash in the world at its salt and soda ash operation on Sua Pan in Botswana.

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and Endorphin Expeditions.

There are only two soda ash mines in the whole of Africa. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Soda ash (sodium carbonate) is an important reagent in lithium processing. Also in the production of lithium carbonate.

Soda ash is added to a purified lithium-bearing solution to precipitate lithium carbonate, which can then be filtered and processed into battery-grade material.

Two producers in Africa

In Kenya, Tata Chemicals operates the Magadi mine. Here they extract trona and produces about 265,000 tonnes a year of soda.

The largest producer of soda ash in Africa is in Botswana where Botash operates the Sua Pan salt and soda ash mine. Sua Pan forms part of the greater Makgadikgadi complex.

The Makgadikgadi Pans

The Makgadikgadi Pans consist of a number of interconnected salt pans. The two principal pans are Sua (Sowa) Pan in the east and Ntwetwe Pan in the west, with smaller pans including Nxai, Kudiakam and Kaucaca to the north.

At Sua, Botash produces more than 300,000 tonnes per year of soda ash from brine extracted and processed at Sua.

Lithium mines in Zimbabwe

Keep in mind that six lithium mines in Zimbabwe are currently importing their soda ash from China.

There are smaller sodium carbonate resources in Chad and Ethiopia, but their production is not on the same scale as these mines in Botswana and Kenya.

On day 10 of the WhyAfrica RES Road Trip through Botswana and Namibia, we met salt harvesters for the first time.

WhyAfrica visited Botash’s operation to learn more about its mining methods and the many used of salt and soda ash.

Soda ash is also to manufacture glass and in chemicals and detergents. In addition Botash produces coarse and fine table salt.

Image credit: Salt Harvester on the Sua Pan salt and soda ash operation in Botswana. Image credit: Leon Louw for WhyAfrica.

Botswana’s salt of the earth