Minerals and Mining
The basin's large mineral deposits caused a great deal of investment interest from 2005. It has reserves of asbestos, borax, gypsum, oil and natural gas, and several metals, with the greatest reserves of lithium, magnesium, potassium and sodium of anywhere in China. Qaidam is also home to the Qarhan Lake (察尔汗盐湖), which contains sixty billion tons of salt. There are 22 oilfields, with estimated reserves of 225 million tons, and 6 gasfields, holding 150 billion cubic metres of gas.
The Xining-Golmud rail line (the first stage of the Qinghai–Tibet Railway), which crossed the Qaidam Basin in the early 1980s, is an essential transportation link for accessing the region's mineral resources. As of 2012, additional rail lines are under construction. The construction of the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway started in October 2012; it is expected to be completed within 5 years. In the early 2012, Zangge Potash Co Ltd started the construction of a 25-km private railway from the Chaerhan (Qarhan) station on the Qinghai–Tibet Railway (near the eponymous salt lake) to their facilities nearby.
Read more about this topic: Qaidam Basin
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