As a special type of resources,salt lakes have important scientific,economic values and environmental effects. Salt lakes are store houses of mineral salts. The productive elements (such as lithium,magnesium,potassium,boron,etc.) among salt lakes,are precious resources with strategic interest for the development of economics and society of China.This paper briefly reviews the characteristics and techniques in comprehensive utilization of Qinghai salt lake resources and proposes some suggestions in scientific, as well as political and strategic level.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Potassium
2.1 The technique of potassium chloride
2.2 The technique of potassium sulfate
3 Lithium
3.1 Calcination method
3.2 Extraction method
3.3 Adsorption method
3.4 Selective membrane method
3.5 Carbonization method
4 Boron
4.1 Acidification-cooling crystallization
4.2 Acidification-direct crystallization
4.3 Solvent extraction
4.4 Other methods
5 Magnesium
5.1 Magnesium hydroxide
5.2 Magnesium oxide
5.3 Magnesium metal and alloys
5.4 Magnesium oxychloride cements
6 Summary and prospects