The Reichenhall City Festival was a welcome occasion to open the doors of the New Salt Works to the public last Saturday.In any case, the times in the region are fully set on salt.The Berchtesgaden salt mine, from which the New Salt Works also obtains the brine for the world-famous Bad Reichenhall Alpine salt, celebrates 500 years of uninterrupted salt mining this year, the guild celebrates 400 years and the brine pipeline from Berchtesgaden to Bad

Reichenhall celebrates 200 years.More than 5,000 visitors came to the New Saltworks in Bad Reichenhall, completed in 1926, and got an impression of how salt is extracted from the Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden brine, once and today.After the one-hour tours of the state-of-the-art plant, young and old could satisfy their hunger with Bavarian delicacies in the marquee.The “Stoahäusl Musi” provided the atmosphere.The attractions were the hands-on activities, where visitors could get an idea of what it meant to extract salt in the past by drilling dikes and boiling salt in large wood-fired pans.

Continuous operation since 1928 (fire in 1943 destroyed large parts, then reconstruction) Evaporated salt production with a mode

thermal

Several crystallisation plants

Modern, fully automatic 500g package filling lines

Production of evaporated salt products on various packaging units Production of pretzel salt, dishwasher salt

Production of tablets for use in water softening systems Production of various herbal salts

Pan salt production approx. 170 employees

Operations Manager:Dr. Lars Reime

Factsabout

the salt mineBerchtesgaden

Background

Active salt mining since 1517, making it the oldest active salt mine in Germany

Founding

1517 by Gregor Rainer, Imperial Prelate and Provost of the Berchtesgaden Monastery

Operating time

Since foundation without interruption

Brine extractionperyear

approx.1.000.000 m³

Process

wet mining Salinity in themountain Average 50 % Employees

approx.100 at the Berchtesgaden site

Technical data

Extension of a drilling mud plant: up to 160 m long, 120 m wide, 125 m high Active drilling mud plants:30

Daily extraction progress: approx. 1 cm upwards Usable extraction height:100 m

Operating life of a drilling fluid plant: approx. 30 years

Brine production per drilling rig during the entire operating period: approx. 1.300.000 m³

Sizeof thedeposits

from south-west to north-east:4.5 km (2.5 km in mining) north-west to south-east:1.5 km (1.5 km in mining) Proven bed depth:500 m below the valley floor Presumed bed depth:1,000 m below the valley floor Owner

Südwestdeutsche Salzwerke AG, Heilbronn Spokesman of the Board Ulrich Fluck

Board of Directors Wolfgang Rüther

Durationof theguided tourthroughtheexhibition mine

1.5 to 2 hours including ticket purchase and changing (overalls partly with light elements for underground) Visitorsperyear

approx.382.000 (2016)

Size

Salt Shop:150 m²

Visitor centre:600 m²

Tunnels in the entire salt mine: approx. 30 km route length Visitor mine railway:1,400 m length of the first slide:34 m

Length of the second slide:40 m

Opening hours

1 May to 31 October: daily 9 AM to 5 PM*

2 November to 31 March: daily 11 AM to 3 PM*

1 April to 30 April: daily 10 AM to 3 PM* (*last admission)

Closed

Good Friday, Whit Monday, 1 November, 24 and 25 December, 31 December, 1 January

Site Manager

Raimund Bartl Head of DepartmentTourism Peter Botzleiner-Reber