Sylvinite is a sedimentary rock made of a mechanical mixture of the minerals sylvite (KCl, or potassium chloride) and halite (NaCl, or sodium chloride). Sylvinite is the most important source for the production of potash in North America, Russia and the UK. Most Canadian operations mine sylvinite with proportions of approximately 31% KCl and 66% NaCl with the balance being insoluble clays, anhydrite and in some locations carnallite. Other deposits of sylvinite are located in Belarus, Brazil, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Spain.
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Sylvinite in the context of Potassium chloride
Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt-like taste. Potassium chloride can be obtained from ancient dried lake deposits. KCl is used as a salt substitute for table salt (NaCl), a fertilizer, as a medication, in scientific applications, in domestic water softeners (as a substitute for sodium chloride salt), as a feedstock, and in food processing, where it may be known as E number additive E508.
It occurs naturally as the mineral sylvite, which is named after salt's historical designations sal degistivum Sylvii and sal febrifugum Sylvii, and in combination with sodium chloride as sylvinite.