Wyoming: Company Announces New Soda Ash Mining Project Near Green River

A British company wants to build the future with soda ash, which is why it’s expanding mining operations in the “largest and purest” deposits in the world outside Green River, Wyoming.

On Wednesday, Oct. 12, W.E. Soda Ltd – a Ciner Company – announced Project West, a new greenfield Soda Ash project in Southwest Wyoming, U.S.A. The project is near W.E. Soda’s Pacific Soda project near Green River, Wyoming.

W.E. Soda Ltd promotes itself as “the largest global natural soda ash producer” in the world. According to their website, the British company’s two production facilities generate five million tons of soda ash annually.

Meanwhile, the Ciner Resources Corporation is one of the leading low-cost suppliers of natural soda ash. A facility in Green River – currently owned and operated by Ciner – has been producing “high-quality, environmentally-friendly soda ash” since 1962.

The company also claims it has invested $1.9 billion in the United States over the last decade.

W.E. Soda says their Wyoming operation will support investments in global lithium and photovoltaic solar glass, making the American product an effective competitor to Chinese substitutes.

Some of the highlights of the new project include:

• Scalable capacity over time to meet growing global demand for soda ash
• Export-focused and targeting production before 2030
• In-situ – targeting high-quality deep beds that are not economical via conventional mining
• Using renewable energy – solar, wind, solar steam
• Better consumption efficiency of resources such as water and power

Soda ash – sodium carbonate – forms as white, odorless, water-soluble salts. The mineral is used in everything from cleaning supplies to water softeners and the production of paper and glass. It is even used as a food additive and alternative to baking powder.

Courtesy WE Soda

The planned in-situ mining project at Project West will also be powered by available renewable energy investment opportunities.

Alasdair Warren, W.E. Soda C.E.O., commented:

“With the addition of a further growth project in Wyoming, WE Soda has secured additional products for our customer base in the long term. Together with our existing projects, we will be investing around four billion dollars.

Oguz Erkan, Ciner U.S. C.E.O. commented:

“WE Soda’s Project West is unique – with private soda ash assets and 100% owned, a closed system for extraction using recycled water, and an already permitted port terminal for product exportation. By utilizing significantly less surface and underground footprint, and better supply chain structure, WE Soda will enable and improve Wyoming’s natural soda ash to compete on a global scale that, to date, has been unrealized in the market. We are supporting Wyoming soda ash to unleash its existing potential on a global scale. W.E. Soda will export significant volumes of Wyoming’s 2,000-year supply of soda ash worldwide and effectively compete against China’s synthetic product while supporting global lithium and P.V. Solar glass investments.”

W.E. Soda claims the largest and purest deposits of soda ash are found near Green River, Wyoming, U.S.A., and Ankara, Turkey.

These are the only commercially exploitable deposits that have been discovered globally. Both of W.E. Soda’s production facilities are in Turkey.