Abstract:

Potassium resources are scarce in China and the supply of potash fertilizer concerns the security of agricultural food.An important and largest production base of potassium chloride has been built in Qinghai，China.How to develop and utilize potassium resources sustainably is crucial to ensure the security of the national potash fertilizer supply.The salt lake potassium resources status in Qinghai was listed，the chloride type of salt lake potassium resources research advances of Qinghai in exploration and exploitation in recent years were introduced，and technological improvement of three kinds of the main flowsheet were summarized，including cold decomposition-direct flotation，cold crystallization-direct flotation，and reverse flotation-cold crystallization.Moreover，the key technology development tendency of salt lake potassium resources future guaranteeing supply of Qinghai was prospected，which included the deep exploration of potassium resources，efficient utilization of potassium resources，and effective exploitation of middle-western magnesium sulfate subtype salt lakes potassium resources and efficient exploitation technology of poor mixed potassium ore resources，etc.

Key words: salt lake potassium resources, potassium chloride, flotation, crystallization