BRINE MINE

Netherlands | 2010

This documentary focuses on the integration of industrialized landscapes within productive manufacturing systems. This chlorine production facility requires a highly purified form of salt, free from mineral and other contaminants that are sometimes introduced via ocean borne transit or during surface mining processes. The facility utilizes a brine mining method to dissolve underground deposits and directly pump and pipe the salt into the chlorine production plant. Deep underground caverns, the size of skyscrapers, result from the mining process. At the close of the production loop, the caverns are reused as natural gas storage chambers. While the chemical plant itself has a significant presence in the landscape, the presence of the even greater underground chambers is only marked at the surface with small, shed-like pump stations.