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8743264 
Journal Article 
Satellite monitoring of hydrometallurgical processing on Lake Manas, Xinjiang, Northwest China 
Terekhov, AG; Abayev, NN; Lagutin, EI 
2021 
18 
1 
243-247 
Russian 
A set of Landsat images from 1990 to 2020 was used to study the dynamics of land cover — land use changes in the bottom of the dried-up lake Manas, Xinjiang, Northwest China. After the construction of the main water channel Black Irtysh–Karamay in 1999, the lake bottom was periodically filled with water. The regime of long-term changes in the water area and the development of anthropogenic structures in its bottom indicate the creation of a hydrometallurgical complex for solar evaporation of salt brines. Location of the Manas Lake in the Dzungarian plain on the territory of the Karamay Oil fields suggests that hydrometallurgical processing is a concomitant of petroleum production. Apparently, this place is used for subsalt oil production, which is combined with the Lithium extraction from the salt-lake brines. This is facilitated by favorable climatic conditions. Very dry and hot summer weather provides extreme water evaporation. The significant potential of solar water evaporation in the Dzungarian plain and the possibility of using the technical resources of subsalt oil production create a good basis for large-scale Lithium extraction. Similar conditions exist in the oil fields of the Northern Caspian region (Kazakhstan, Russia) and Tarim basin (China). © 2021 Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. 
Dzungarian plain; Lithium extraction; Remote sensing; Salt-lake brine; Solar evaporation; Subsalt oil production