Chemical Characterisation of Himalayan Rock Salt

Present study involves the chemical evaluation of rock salt samples collected from the pluggingsites of Himalayan salt (Khewra salt mines and Kalabagh salt mines) for their moisture content, waterinsoluble matter, calcium, magnesium, sulphate content and trace minerals such as Fe,Cu,Cd,Pb,As,Agand Zn determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Moisture content of Khewra and Kalabagh saltsamples ranged from 0.03 wt. % to 0.09 wt. % and 0.06 % to 0.08 %, respectively. Water insoluble matterranged from 0.08 wt. % to 1.4 wt. % and 1.5 wt. % to 2.8wt. % for Khewra and Kalabagh salt samples,respectively. Sulphate content for Khewra salt sample was from 0.39 % to 0.91 % and for Kalabagh saltmines from 0.75 wt. % to 0.95wt. %. For Khewra salt mines calcium ranged 0.15wt. % to 0.32wt. % andfor Kalabagh salt samples from 0.1 wt. % to 0.27wt. %. Magnesium ranged from 0.11 wt. % to 0.35wt.% for Khewra salt mines, while for Kalabagh salt samples its range was 0.18wt. % to 0.89wt. %. Tracemetals had the concentration ranges between 0.2 to 1.85 mg/kg for copper; between 0.21 to 0.42 mg/kgfor manganese; between 0.04 to 0.06 mg/kg for zinc; between 0.12 to 0.18 mg/kg for arsenic and between0.03 and 0.05 mg/kg for lead while cadmium content was either below the method’s detection limits orin very trace amounts. The results show that the concentrations of all the parameters studied are belowthe limits set by World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that the Himalayan salt from the plugging sites of Khewraand Kalabagh salt mines are safe to use.