Salihorsk

Salihorsk, Russian Soligorsk, city, administrative centre of Salihorsk rayon (district), Minsk oblast (region), Belarus. The city was established as a consequence of the discovery in 1949 of the potash reserves of the Starobin basin, a geologic formation about 5,400 square miles (14,000 square km) in area and containing some 50 billion metric tons of the potassium salts. Three processing plants were built to exploit these deposits; they were later unified as the Beloruskaly combine. Other industry in Salihorsk includes the manufacture of precast concrete products. There is a technical college for chemical engineering and mining. Pop. (2006 est.) 100,800.