Qattara Depression Project

Rivalling the Aswan High Dam in scope, the intention is to develop the hydroelectric potential of the Qattara Depression by creating an artificial lake.

This would return the Qattara Depression to its current state but with its sabkha soils tens of meters higher, allowing for salt mining.

The concept calls for excavating a large canal or tunnel of about 55 to 100 kilometres (34 to 62 mi), depending on the route chosen to the Mediterranean Sea, to bring seawater into the area.

The first documented suggestion for flooding large parts of the Sahara desert was by French geographer François Élie Roudaire whose proposal inspired the writer Jules Verne's final book Invasion of the Sea.

The credit for its discovery goes to John Ball, English director of the Survey of Egypt, who oversaw the mapping of the depression in 1927 and who first suggested using it to generate hydroelectricity.

[8][9] In 1957 the American Central Intelligence Agency proposed to President Dwight Eisenhower that peace in the Middle East could be achieved by flooding the Qattara Depression.

The resulting lagoon, according to the CIA, would have four benefits:[10] From 1964 onward Prof. Friedrich Bassler led the international "Board of Advisers" which was responsible for planning and financing activities of the project.

Half way through the seventies a team of eight mostly German scientists and technicians was working on the planning of the first hydro-solar depression power station in the world.

The shock waves from the explosion might also affect the tectonically unstable Red Sea Rift located just 450 km away from the blast site.

Although the added value of additional table salt on global markets is low, the clean energy boom presents a unique lithium opportunity if a scheme such as Qattara Depression Project were to materialize.