Dampier Salt is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

 company located in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, with operations in Dampier

Dampier, Western Australia

Dampier is a major industrial port in the north-west of Western Australia. The Dampier Port is part of the Dampier Archipelago. The port services petrochemical, salt, iron ore and natural gas export industries. Rio Tinto exports large volumes of iron ore through the port, and in September 2010...

, Port Hedland, and Lake MacLeod

Lake Macleod

Lake Macleod is the westernmost lake in Australia. It lies north of the small coastal city of Carnarvon, Western Australia, estimated population 7,200.-History:...

, with headquarters in Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. Since beginning operations at Dampier in 1972, the company has developed into one of the world's largest private salt producers, with production capacity of over four million tonnes per annum at Dampier and nine million tonnes per annum company-wide.

The company also produces gypsum

Gypsum

Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...

, with a 1.5 million tonne per annum capacity, at its Lake MacLeod facility.

Dampier Salt is 68.4% owned by the Rio Tinto Group

Rio Tinto Group

The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the...

, 21.5% by Marubeni

Marubeni

is a Japanese trading company, one of the largest general trading companies in Japan.-Offices:*Head Office - 4-2, Otemachi 1-chome, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan*Head Office -20-6, Shiba 5-chome, Minato, Tokyo, Japan...

, and the remaining 10.1% by Sojitz

Sojitz

is a trading corporation based in Tokyo, Japan. It operates in many industries, including construction, forestry, plastics, chemicals, mining, petroleum, textiles, and international trade. Sojitz also participates in joint ventures with foreign companies in Japan....

.

Important Bird Areas

The 52 km² solar evaporation pond

Salt evaporation pond

Salt evaporation ponds, also called salterns or salt pans, are shallow artificial ponds designed to produce salts from sea water or other brines. The seawater or brine is fed into large ponds and water is drawn out through natural evaporation which allows the salt to be subsequently harvested...

 complex at Dampier has been identified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 as the Dampier Saltworks Important Bird Area

Dampier Saltworks Important Bird Area

The Dampier Saltworks Important Bird Area is a 52 km2 saltern lying close to the town of Dampier, an industrial port in the Pilbara region of north-west Western Australia...

, while the 78 km² complex near Port Hedland

Port Hedland, Western Australia

Port Hedland is the highest tonnage port in Australia and largest town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, with a population of approximately 14,000 ....

 has been identified as the Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area

Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area

The Port Hedland Saltworks Important Bird Area is a 103 km2 tract of originally intertidal land, now containing a saltern, lying about 20 km east of the port of Port Hedland on the coast of the Pilbara region of north-west Western Australia...

.