Largest Producer of Solar Sea Salt in Sub-Saharan Africa

Established in 1964, the Walvis Bay Salt group is a Namibian registered company.

Walvis Bay Salt produces 1 million tons of high quality salt pa on 5000 ha of ponds.

Today Walvis Bay Salt is the leading supplier of superior solar sea salt products, using technologically advanced processes.

The company processes some 100 million m3 of seawater to produce more than 1,100 000 tons of crude sea salt per year.

The Group exports to various regions, including West and East Africa, South Africa, the US and Europe.

In addition to producing salt for the chemical industry and other general purposes, the company also produces high quality table salt for the Southern Africa market.

The salt production process is based on solar evaporation of seawater to produce 99.4% pure sodium chloride(NaCI) on dry mass basis. Seawater, which is the only raw material, contains a 3.5% concentration of salts, of which 2.9% is sodium chloride. The water is pumped from a natural lagoon into a series of pre-evaporation ponds and then through a series of concentration ponds.

Stimulated by wind and sun the brine salinity (concentrated salt water) content gradually increases until it reaches 25% NaCl, at which point it is pumped into crystallisation ponds. Here salt then crystallises to form a layer of crystals. During the evaporation process, brine depths and densities are controlled to ensure that the maximum number of unwanted chemical impurities are precipitated before they enter the crystallisers.

A similar monitoring program is used to control the depth and density of crystallisation ponds to achieve optimum efficiency levels. Performance and product quality is constantly monitored at an on-site laboratory.

Once the salt crystals have grown to the required levels, the product is harvested mechanically and transported to the processing plant. Here the raw product undergoes a process of upgrading, using dilute brine as washing medium. During the wash-process impurities including calcium, sulphate and magnesium is removed. Finally, the processed salt is dried through centrifuges and stockpiled.

Salt is required by customers in a variety of different pack sizes and is packed at a food grade bagging facility. Specific package identification and granule size are incorporated during this process according to customer needs.

Product destined for bulk export is transported from the bulk storage facility at the harbour, by a conveyer belt and spout-trimmed into the ships hold at Walvis Bay harbour.  Loading can take place on a 24 hour basis, seven days a week, at a rate of 600 tons per hour.

PLEASE DO NOT ENTER the Walvis Bay Salt works area.

Logging requirements: post a pic;

• of yourself or
• a paper with your Geocaching name on it or
• your GPS.
• with one of the of the salt piles in the background.

Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025

This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.