Plenty of salt to treat Halton's icy roads (From Runcorn and Widnes World)
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Salt mine has plenty of salt for Halton, says MEP
6:40pm Friday 18th January 2013 in News By Barbara Jordan
PLENTY of salt is avalilable to grit Halton’s icy roads, says Runcorn Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies.
He visited Winsford Salt Mine in Cheshire where a 400,000 tonne road salt mountain has been brought to the surface.
The mine, run by Salt Union Ltd, supplies about half the rock salt used by gritters across the UK each year and has been in action for more than a century.
Mr Davies said: "Mine managers assured me that if local councils are experiencing shortages of rock salt, it will not be due to supply at the source."
He watched the rock salt being cut 180 metres underground.
A labyrinth of 200 miles of tunnels, each large enough to fit a double decker bus, has been created by the work over many years.
