Need Reliable IT Support? Salt harvest at Lake Grassmere hit by bad weather

For the first time in nearly four decades, Marlborough’s iconic salt works has had a a zero-harvest, with bad weather to blame. Lake Grassmere’s salt harvest was a non-starter, with supplies instead being shipped in from Australia.

Dominion Salt chief executive Euan McLeish says it takes strong dry winds, prevailing nor’ westerlies, low rainfall, and sunshine to make salt at New Zealand’s only solar salt field, all of which were in short supply this season.

But there is no risk of a shortage, Euan says, with salt supplies for the country bolstered by Australian sister company, Cheetham Salt.

“Every year, the weather is variable. It has to do with the latitude.

“We’re deemed a pretty high latitude salt field,” Euan says.

A wet summer also played its part, with annual rainfall nearly double the average. Fresh rainwater dilutes the salty brine, hampering the salt making process.

“We had 900mm of rain in the last 12 months, normally it’s 500mm. And most of it fell in the salt making season,” he says. Then there were the cyclones.

“We had a look [at the salt] and pulled the pin after one day.”

It’s the first time they haven’t harvested any salt from the 17 square kilometre lake since 1986. There have been several low harvests in the past, however. That’s just farming, Euan says.

“In the good years, we harvest a surplus and hope that brings us through the bad years.

“But we’ve had a couple of bad seasons in a row.”

The record amount of salt harvested from the field is 130,000 tonnes.

Euan says the bad harvest wasn’t a surprise, and his team planned accordingly to keep a strong sup- ply of the critical product in the country.

In March, the MV Gold River delivered 15,000 tonnes of salt to Picton from Australia. Eighteen truck and trailer units, coordinated by Harvest Haulage Ltd, worked day and night for four days to transport the salt to the Lake Grassmere facility midcruise ship season.

“A hell of a lot of work went in, and we had great support from local businesses,” Euan says. “Port Marlborough came to the party to squeeze us in because cruise ships have priority. “And we had good teamwork from the Lake Grassmere team to unload and stack.

“If we have to import, we do it through our sister company at a good price – we minimise the effect on our customers.”

Another 30,000 tonnes of salt is scheduled to arrive in Picton later this year.

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Lake Grassmere services the South Island and lower North Island, while Dominion Salt’s Tauranga refinery covers the upper north and many of their export products.

Euan says the salt is primarily for industrial use, with only a small fraction ending up as table salt.

“Our biggest customers are tanneries, for fertiliser and water treatment. Chlorine, for example, is made from sodium chloride.”

The east coast facility is already looking forward to next season, and the 51 staff haven’t been affected by the disappointing harvest.

“We take our role for supplying salt responsibly,” says Euan. “It’s a critical product for industry, and we do have a robust supply.”