An outsize salt mine with a proved reserve of 14.5 billion tons has been discovered in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local government sourcessaid on Thursday.

The Qiao'erhe Salt Mine, the newly-discovered salt mine, is about 50 kilometers southwest to the county town of Baicheng, Aksu Prefecture. The Tuzimazi Salt Mine, another mine simultaneously discovered in a place 23 km northwest of the county town, boasts aproved reserve of 146.26 million tons. Major part of the salt in the two mine are exposed.

Aksu ranks the first in salt reserve in China, but only a smallpart of the resources have been exploited, according to a source with the prefectural government.

The proved salt reserve in the northern mountainous areas of Aksu exceeds 20 billion tons, but the crude salt output in the prefecture was only 20,100 tons last year.

Previously, 22 salt mines have been spotted in the Aksu area, including five large ones. These salt mines can provide salt for one billion people for nearly 5,500 years, calculating on the basis that one person consumes 10 grams of salt daily.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2005)