Walvis Bay Salt
Walvis Bay Salt Holdings (Pty) Ltd, through its various subsidiaries, is the largest producer of solar sea salt in sub-Saharan Africa. The Company processes 90 million m3 (cubic meter) of seawater per annum to produce in excess of 900 000 tons of high-quality salt per annum. The total operation covers an area of 5000ha.
The Group exports to various countries, including West Africa, South Africa and Europe.
In addition to producing salt for the chemical industry and other general purposes the Group also produce high quality table salt for the Southern Africa market. Besides South Africa, refined sea salt is exported to neighbouring countries, including Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana and Zambia, mainly for human consumption.
Products and Operations
The salt operation at Walvis Bay Salt Holdings comprises three companies, Salt & Chemicals (Pty) Ltd, Walvis Bay Salt Refiners (Pty) Ltd, and Ekango Salt Refiners (Pty) Ltd.
Salt & Chemicals operates the salt field and produces the raw salt, whilst Walvis Bay Salt Refiners further processes and markets the product internationally. Ekango Salt Refiners produces table salt for various local and international markets.
An updated copy of our product specifications and certifications can be obtained from the following email address: info@wbsalt.com
The Process
The Walvis Bay Salt Refiners salt production process is based on the solar evaporation of seawater to produce 99,4% pure sodium chloride (NaCl) on dry mass basis.
Seawater, which is the only raw material, contains a 3.5% concentration of salts, of which 2.9% is sodium chloride. The water is pumped from a natural lagoon into a series of pre-evaporation ponds and then through a series of concentration ponds. The total operation covers an area of 5000ha.
Policies
Board of Directors
Gregory Hirschowitz
Director (Non-Executive)
- B Com (Wits)
- B Acc (Wits)
- Registered Persons (Securities)
- CA(SA)
- CFA
- PLD (Harvard Business School, Alumni status)
- 2001: completed accounting articles at Investec Bank and joined Investec Principal Investments “IPI” as a private equity specialist, where he concluded multiple transactions on the buy and sell sides as well as portfolio management over 15 years
- 2016: Part of the management team that led the buyout of the private equity business at Investec Bank whereafter he served as a senior executive at IEP
- Mid 2018: Joined Bud Chemicals & Minerals as the Chief Executive Officer
André Snyman
Managing Director
- B.Sc (Chem) – 1996 University of Stellenbosch
- B.Ed – 1987
University of Stellenbosch - MBA – 1997
Graduate School of Business
University of Stellenbosch - Registered as Feed Production Engineer:
Swiss School of Feed milling,
Uzwill, Switzerland (Buhler Group). - Manufacturing Industry: 23 years’ experience
- Animal Feeds Industry: 20 years’ experience
- Experience in acting as Board member on various
boards and MD in Namibia since 2005
Bernard Grové
Director (Executive)
- 1998 – B. Acc (Hons) University of Stellenbosch
- CA (SA), CA (Nam)
- Until 2003: Audit manager – PwC
- Extensive experience in the
manufacturing industry with at
least 8 years spent within
multinationals.
Gregory Swartz
Director (Executive)
- Various management positions in the Group, Operations, Production, Logistics.
- MDP (University of Stellenbosch Business School)
- Senior Management Development Program (University Stellenbosch Business School)
Klaus Friedlingsdorf
Operations Director (Executive)
- B.Sc (BCH CHM) – 1990 University of Pretoria
- MBA – 2002
Graduate School of Business
University of Stellenbosch - 10 year experience in Solar Salt
Manufacturing and Processing - 10 year experience in Uranium
Processing and Exploration