China starts building railway to desolate Lop Nur

URUMQI, June 17 (Xinhua) -- China Tuesday began building a railway to the
Lop Nur, a former lake area known as "the sea of death" in northwestern Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region.

Construction the 360-kilometer railway from Hami Prefecture on the
China-Mongolia border to the Lop Nur near China's largest desert, the
Taklamakan, started Tuesday and would take about two years, said Nur Bekri,
chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, Wednesday.

The two places are linked by a highway that opened in 2006.

The 3.28-billion yuan (470 million U.S. dollars) railway would provide
easier access to, and speed up exploitation of, the region's potassium salt, one
of China's rarest resources used in fertilizer production, he said. The area has
an estimated 500 million tonnes of reserves, valued at more than 500 billion
yuan.

Without adequate exploitation of the Lop Nur's potassium salt resources,
China's total reserve is about 457 million tonnes, less than 3 percent of the
world total. The country imports at least 4 million tonnes of potassium
fertilizer every year.

"When the railway opens, it will be easier to transport Lop Nur's potassium
salt," said Wang Huisheng, president of State Development and Investment Corp.

The state-owned investment holding giant launched a potassium fertilizer
production base in the Lop Nur at the end of last year, which produces 1.2
million tonnes a year. "The second phase of the production base will be launched
in 2014, with a designed annual output of 3 million tonnes, Wang said.

Along the Hami-Lop Nur railway is also a leading coal base, which has more
than 23 billion tonnes of proven reserves. "The railway will provide strong
logistic support to the building of a huge coal-fired power generation base in
Hami," he said.

The railway is also a boon to adventurers and tourists, most ofwhom used to
hitchhike to the Lop Nur unless they could drive all the way across the desert
region themselves.

"I'm waiting to take my next expedition trip to the Lop Nur by train," said
Wang Baowei, an amateur adventurer based in Urumqi.

At least 11 railways are under construction in Xinjiang. By 2020, the
region's total rail mileage will top 10,000 kilometers compared with the present
3,000 kilometers.

The Lop Nur was the largest lake in northwestern China before it dried up
in 1972 as a result of desertification and environmental degradation.

It once nurtured the civilization of Loulan (Kroraina). The ancient city
was one of the pivotal stops along the famous Silk Road, but mysteriously
disappeared around the third century AD.

Due to its typical geology, geography and historical values, the Lop Nur
has attracted the attention of scientists from home and abroad since the mid
19th century.

In 1980, Peng Jiamu, a noted Chinese scientist, went missing on his fourth
expedition to the Lop Nur and was never found.