Editing Potash (section)

== History ==
[[File:FirstUSpatent.jpg|thumbnail|The very first [[United States patent law|U.S. patent]] ever to be  issued was for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process"; it was signed by then President [[George Washington]].]]
[[File:CoveredHopperForPotashBoltonON.jpg|thumb|A covered hopper car in a Canadian train for shipping potash by rail]]

=== Origin of potash ore ===
Most of the world reserves of potassium (K) were deposited as sea water in ancient [[inland ocean]]s. After the water evaporated, the potassium salts crystallized into beds of potash ore. These are the locations where potash is being mined today. The deposits are a naturally occurring mixture of potassium chloride (KCl; mineral name [[sylvite]]) and sodium chloride (NaCl; mineral name [[halite]]), more commonly known as [[table salt]]. Over time, as the surface of the earth changed, these deposits were covered by thousands of feet of earth.<ref name="digital.library.okstate.edu">Robert C. Fite [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oas/oas_pdf/v32/p123_125.pdf Origin and occurrence of commercial potash deposits] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623234316/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/OAS/oas_pdf/v32/p123_125.pdf|date=2010-06-23}}, ''Academy of Sciences for 1951'', p. 123</ref>

=== Bronze Age ===
Potash (especially potassium carbonate) has been used in bleaching textiles, making [[glass]], ceramic, and making [[soap]], since the [[Bronze Age]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Potash {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/earth-and-environment/minerals-mining-and-metallurgy/mineralogy-and-crystallography/potash#:~:text=POTASH%20(potassium%20carbonate)%20and%20soda%20(sodium%20carbonate)%20have%20been%20used%20from%20the%20dawn%20of%20history%20in%20bleaching%20textiles,%20making%20glass,%20and,%20from%20about%20a.d.%20500,%20in%20making%20soap. |access-date=2022-04-25 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> Potash was principally obtained by [[Leaching (chemistry)|leaching]] the ashes of wood burned for heating and cooking.

=== 14th–17th century ===

==== Potash mining ====
Beginning in the 14th century potash was mined in [[Ethiopia]]. One of the world's largest deposits, 140 to 150&nbsp;million tons, is located in the [[Dallol, Ethiopia|Dallol]] area of the [[Afar Region]].<ref name="Ethiopia Mining">[http://www.photius.com/countries/ethiopia/economy/ethiopia_economy_mining.html Ethiopia Mining]. Photius.com. Retrieved on 2013-06-21.</ref>

==== Wood-derived potash ====
Potash was one of the most important industrial chemicals. It was refined from the ashes of [[broad-leaved tree|broadleaved trees]] and produced primarily in the forested areas of Europe, [[Russia]], and [[North America]]. Although methods for producing artificial alkalis were invented in the late 18th century, these did not become economical until the late 19th century and so the dependence on organic sources of potash remained.

Potash became an important international trade commodity in Europe from at least the early 14th century. It is estimated that European imports of potash required 6 or more million cubic metres each year from the early 17th century.<ref name="Paul Warde 2018"/> Between 1420 and 1620, the primary exporting cities for [[wood ash|wood-derived potash]] were [[Gdańsk]], [[Königsberg]] and [[Riga]]. In the late 15th century, London was the lead importer due to its position as the centre of soft soap making while the Dutch dominated as suppliers and consumers in the 16th century.<ref name="Paul Warde 2018">Paul Warde, 'Trees, Trade and Textiles: Potash Imports and Ecological Dependency in British Industry, c. 1550–1770', Past & Present, 240, 1, 2018, 47–82</ref> From the 1640s, geopolitical disruptions (i.e. [[Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)]]) meant that the centres of export moved from the Baltic to [[Archangelsk]], Russia. In 1700, Russian ash was dominant though Gdańsk remained notable for the quality of its potash.

=== 18th century ===

==== Kelp ash ====
On the [[Orkney]] islands, [[kelp]] ash provided potash and [[soda ash]], production starting "possibly as early as 1719" and lasting for a century. The products were "eagerly sought after by the glass and soap industries of the time."<ref name="stkelp">{{cite news |title=Kelp Burning in Orkney |website=orkneyjar.com |publisher=Sigurd Towrie |url=http://orkneyjar.com/tradition/kelpburning.htm |access-date=2021-09-20 |archive-date=2023-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514013844/http://www.orkneyjar.com/tradition/kelpburning.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==== North America ====
By the 18th century, higher quality American potash was increasingly exported to Britain. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, potash production provided settlers in North America badly needed cash and credit as they cleared wooded land for crops. To make full use of their land, settlers needed to dispose of excess wood. The easiest way to accomplish this was to burn any wood not needed for fuel or construction. Ashes from [[hardwood]] trees could then be used to make [[Potassium hydroxide|lye]], which could either be used to make soap or boiled down to produce valuable potash. Hardwood could generate ashes at the rate of 60 to 100 [[bushel]]s per acre (500 to 900 m<sup>3</sup>/km<sup>2</sup>). In 1790, the sale of ashes could generate $3.25 to $6.25 per acre ($800 to $1,500/km<sup>2</sup>) in rural [[New York State]] – nearly the same rate as hiring a laborer to clear the same area. Potash making became a major industry in British North America. Great Britain was always the most important market. The American potash industry followed the woodsman's ax across the country.

====The first US patent====
The first [[United States patent law|US patent]] of any kind was issued in 1790 to [[Samuel Hopkins (inventor)|Samuel Hopkins]] for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process".<ref>[[wikisource:United States patent X1|Patent X1: the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process (1790)]]. en.wikisource.org</ref> ''Pearl ash'' was a purer quality made by [[calcination]] of potash in a [[reverberatory furnace]] or kiln. [[Potash pit]]s were once used in [[England]] to produce potash that was used in making soap for the preparation of wool for yarn production.

=== 19th century ===
After about 1820, New York replaced New England as the most important source; by 1840 the center was in Ohio. Potash production was always a by-product industry, following from the need to clear land for [[agriculture]].<ref name="digital.library.okstate.edu" />

==== Canada ====
From 1767, potash from wood ashes was exported from Canada. By 1811, 70% of the total 19.6 million lbs of potash imports to Britain came from Canada.<ref name="Paul Warde 2018" /> Exports of potash and pearl ash reached 43,958 barrels in 1865. There were 519 [[Ashery|asheries]] in operation in 1871.

=== 20th century industrialization ===
[[File:International Exchange of Potash in 1937 - DPLA - 6e2d669a051158fe7afe1fc031988d4f.jpg|thumb|right|Global imports/exports of potash in 1937]]
The wood-ash industry declined in the late 19th century when large-scale production of [[:Category:Potassium minerals|potash from mineral]] salts was established in [[Germany]]. In the early 20th century, the potash industry was dominated by a cartel in which Germany had the dominant role.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=147}} [[World War I|WWI]] saw a brief resurgence of American asheries, with their product typically consisting of 66% hydroxide, 17% carbonate, 16% sulfate and other impurities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bateman |first=Ernest |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ksNWAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA15 |title=Wood Ashes and Production of Potash |date=1919 |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory |language=en}}</ref> Later in the century, the cartel ended as new potash producers emerged in the USSR and Canada.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=147}}

In 1943, potash was discovered in [[Saskatchewan]], Canada, during oil drilling. Active exploration began in 1951. In 1958, the Potash Company of America became the first potash producer in Canada with the commissioning of an underground potash mine at [[Patience Lake]].<ref name="ce" /> As numerous potash producers in Canada developed, the Saskatchewan government became increasingly involved in the industry, leading to the creation of [[Canpotex]] in the 1970s.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=147}} 

[[File:Canadianpotashmine.jpg|thumbnail|A postcard of the Kalium Chemicals plant in [[Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan]]]]
In 1964 the Canadian company Kalium Chemicals established the first potash mine using the solution process. The discovery was made during oil reserve exploration. The mine was developed near Regina, Saskatchewan. The mine reached depths greater than 1500 meters. It is now the Mosaic Corporation's Belle Plaine unit.

The USSR's potash production had largely been for domestic use and use in the [[Council for Mutual Economic Assistance]] countries.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=147}} After the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolution of the USSR]], Russian and [[Mining in Belarus|Belarusian]] potash producers entered into direct competition with producers elsewhere in the world for the first time.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=147}}

In the beginning of the 20th century, potash deposits were found in the [[Dallol, Ethiopia|Dallol Depression]] in the Musely and Crescent localities near the Ethiopean-[[Eritrea]]n border. The estimated reserves in Musely and Crescent are 173 and 12&nbsp;million tonnes respectively. The latter is particularly suitable for surface mining. It was explored in the 1960s but the works stopped due to flooding in 1967. Attempts to continue mining in the 1990s were halted by the [[Eritrean–Ethiopian War]] and have not resumed as of 2009.<ref name="industrialization1">{{cite news |title=Minerals for Agricultural Industrialization |publisher=Ministry of Mines and Energy of Ethiopia |url=http://www.mome.gov.et/industrial.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720153154/http://www.mome.gov.et/industrial.html |archive-date=2011-07-20}}</ref>[[Image:Potash evaporation ponds near Moab, UT, May 2013.jpg|thumb|Potash evaporation ponds at the [[Intrepid Potash]] mine near [[Moab, Utah]]]]