Trona
Trona, a hydrated sodium carbonate mineral, is mined by five producers in the United States, four of which operate underground mines in the Green River Basin in southwest Wyoming. Ninety percent of the nation's trona production, and thirty percent of the world's trona production, comes from Wyoming. In 1999, about 17,000,000 tons of trona were mined in Wyoming. Within the Kemmerer Field Office's jurisdiction, FMC, General Chemical, and Solvay run four separate underground trona mining operations with associated surface processing plants.Trona is processed into soda ash, which is used primarily in glass, detergents, paper, water softeners, drugs, cleaning compounds, and baking soda. In 1999, about 9,500,000 tons of soda ash were sold by Wyoming producers. Approximately 35% of total Wyoming soda ash production is exported.
Reserves of trona total over 100 billion tons in the Green River Basin. Nearly 50% of Wyoming's trona is federally owned. Sixty-five federal sodium leases contain approximately 84,000 acres.
