Salt, a forgotten mineral resource and problems facing the industry

During pre-colonial Ghana, salt was a very essential commodity. According to Chester Morton, salt was important to the economy of Ghana. Salt was used as a medium of exchange for goods and as a mode of payment.

Salt is also essential in the preservation of perishable foods.

In the treatment of burns, salt is applied immediately to the affected area. It was also used as a disinfectant. Fruits were washed in salty water to remove germs.

In the oil and gas industry, industrial salt is one of the most significant and most used components in the petroleum industry. The use of salt covers a lot of industry types such as de-icing, oil industry, chloralkali, and chemicals.

Salt in pre-colonial Ghana was very essential. It was used as a medium of exchange, preservation, disinfectant, and treatment of burns.

Salt is formed naturally through the process of evaporation in Ghana.

In Ghana, salt or sodium chloride is commonly used in food to give it flavor.

Salt finds its usage largely in industrial areas such as de-icing, the oil industry, chlor- alkali industry, and the chemical industry.

However, my focus is on salt and its importance to the oil and gas industry.

Industrial salt is often used in a drilling rig to make it more efficient and safer. It is utilized as an addictive. Salt increases the density of the oil and makes the drilling process safer.

Salt in the oil industry can also serve as diverting agent, thinners, and stabilizers.

Other uses of industrial salts; energy production. Solar power energy requires industrial salt. In chemical, industrial salt is used to produce different chemicals such as chlorine, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, etc.

In industry, it is used in the processing of metals and removes impurities from aluminum. Again, in the Textile industry, it is used to fix batches of dye.

Rubber, pharmaceutical industry, soap making, pigment industry, and water treatment all used salt in their operations.

Some major salt production areas in Ghana are Ada Songhor lagoon, Keta District, Ketu District, and Saltpond.

With the major economic value identified with salt production, Ghana must develop its salt industry.

Developing the salt industry will reduce unemployment in the local communities where the salts are mined.

Since salt is heavily used in major industries like oil and gas, energy, pharmaceutical, water treatment and textile, Ghana can export salt for foreign exchange. Also, Ghana can use it to boost Ghana’s oil and gas production.

At the moment, Ghana’s salt industry is unorganized and fraught with litigations and a lack of consultation with the custodians of the lands where the salts are mined. With the current salt environment, there can’t be any significant investment in the industry.

In Ada Songhor salt sites, there are always agitations from the land owners and communities due to lack of involvement of the people in decision-making.

In Ketu South, a company called Seven Seas is heavily involved in salt mining without proper community engagement and without employing safety environmental standards in salt mining. This has led to lost of many lives. Fishermen who go to fishing got drowned because the company failed to provide warning signs.

Ghana has precious minerals like salt to develop in other to improve the economy of Ghana but the country is unable to identify the potential of salt and to develop the industry.