A total investment of nearly $9 billion in trona mining and processing operations in southwestern Wyoming is beginning to shape up.
The makeover of Wyoming’s trona basin is expected to reverberate across the state as housing and employment opportunities are created in the small Sweetwater County communities where much of the mining and processing is to take place.
The backers of the latest trona mining project in Sweetwater County have proposed what could become a nearly $6 billion investment, more than double a rival operator’s project unveiled just a few weeks ago in filings submitted with the Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Council.
“It’ll be huge,” said Wesley Slaugh, a permitting and regulatory affairs specialist, about the $6 billion project. “This is one of the most heavily invested mining projects in the state of Wyoming.”
Slaugh said construction on Pacific Soda’s Dry Creek Trona Project is expected to begin in early 2025, with 4,200 construction workers at its peak, and 530 permanent jobs when completed in four years.
Slaugh’s project — of which few details were available when unveiled a few years ago as it began its permitting process with federal and private landholders — is a joint venture between Sisecam and Ciner.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is moving forward to approve environmental permits on Pacific Soda as early as this month, Slaugh said.
6 Million Tons A Year
He said the project could produce roughly 6 million tons of soda ash a year. Of that amount, Pacific Soda hopes to produce 440,900 tons of sodium bicarbonate.
The 6 million tons of soda ash is more than double the annual production level forecast by rival WE Soda Ltd. (known as Project West), which also wants to build a new soda ash production project southwest of Green River.
Project West has the potential to produce 3 million tons a year to start.
The rush to build these trona operations is designed to give America a competitive edge against Chinese rivals.
Pacific Soda and Project West together plan to mine the world’s largest deposit of soda ash, which are key ingredients for electric vehicles and solar panels. The mine could satisfy a rapidly rising demand and help the U.S. challenge Chinese dominance in this sector.
A March 20 public hearing in Rock Springs is planned for the Pacific Soda project, Slaugh said.
For Project West, a public hearing is scheduled for May 15-16 in Rock Springs.
The Pacific Soda project is seeking to develop lands and build facilities capable of generating soda ash and sodium bicarbonate using a solution mining methodology to target deep beds of trona.
The project includes two primary components: the mine site, and the processing facilities.
The mine is to be located about 20 miles southwest of Green River while the processing facilities are located 8 miles west of Green River.
The economic impact that the Pacific Soda will have on Sweetwater County is tremendous.
Pacific Soda will pay an estimated $300 million to construction workers to build the mining operation and generate $396 million in local sales a year. It’ll also provide $580 million in direct annual economic output.
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
