A proposed $6 billion trona project expected to create 400 hundred jobs in southwest Wyoming has been pushed back another year, as Pacific Soda works through permitting delays and waits for the global soda ash market to improve.
Pacific Soda, owned by Sisecam, has asked the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality for an extension to its deadline to start construction on the Dry Creek Trona Project in Sweetwater County. The company wants to move it from December 2026 to December 2027, according to paperwork filed with the Department of Environmental Quality.
Wes Slaugh, Pacific Soda’s senior permitting and regulatory affairs specialist, told Cowboy State Daily he believes the project will still happen, but timing has become a question. China has flooded the market with millions of tons of soda ash, he said.
Determining just how much has been dumped on the market has been difficult, Slaugh added.
“When you try to look into China and all these claims it’s making, you can’t find anything on the internet about it,” he said. “But it’s happening. The question is how long are they going to be able to sustain it? How long can they keep this up?”
The oversupply has heavily targeted India, Bangladesh and Malaysia but is also causing global prices for trona products to drop substantially.
“I think if we would have had these permits, say, three years ago, this plant would be up and running right now,” Slaugh told Cowboy State Daily. “Which might not necessarily be a good thing because of the current flooded-market situation. Other mines right now are talking about having layoffs or have done layoffs. The flooded market right now is not good for southwest Wyoming.”
Not On Indefinite Hold
Dry Creek has already faced a series of permitting setbacks as well as staffing changes and vacancies at various agencies.
“The last permit we’re waiting on right now, our last major permit, is our mine permit with Wyoming DEQ,” Slaugh said. “But as far as our federal permits with BLM, we have all those.”
Slaugh said he was told the delay with Wyoming DEQ was caused by staff changes and vacancies.
“They’re in favor of the project,” he said. “It’s just these things take time and patience, and, unfortunately, a lot of money.”
Despite unfavorable market conditions, Slaugh said he believes the company will still move forward with the Dry Creek project, which is to include a processing facility along with the mine site.
Timing is the key question.
“I’ve even been posed this question myself,” he said. “They said, ‘Well, what if you had $6 billion? Would you start this project right now if it was your money?’ And I have to say, ‘I probably wouldn’t. I would probably do what they’re doing and wait for the correct market condition.”
Most Of World’s Natural Trona
Wyoming has the world’s largest known deposit of naturally occurring trona in Sweetwater County.
Trona is used to produce soda ash, an essential raw material with many uses, including the baking soda in most kitchen cabinets, most of which comes from materials produced and manufactured in Wyoming.
Soda ash is also an essential component for glass, soaps and detergents, food and pharmaceuticals, water purifiers, insulation, flue gas desulfurization equipment, paper and more.
More than 90% of domestic soda ash is produced in Wyoming, according to data published by the Wyoming Mining Association, and roughly 60% of Wyoming’s trona production is exported. That generates between $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in annual export revenue, making it Wyoming’s top international export.
The industry employs more than 2,500 miners and technicians, and its average payroll is more than $100,000 per employee, giving the industry a cumulative annual payroll of more than $450 million.
Dry Creek is expected to add more than 200 million metric tons of trona to Pacific Soda’s portfolio — decades of output at the company’s projected extraction rates.
Permit Delays An Issue
Pacific Soda has been trying to build its Dry Creek expansion since 2019. While the Trump administration has improved some aspects of the permitting process the company faced under the Biden administration, the project still had to jump through many hoops.
“You’ve got to do like archaeological clearances, cultural clearances. You’ve got to get with the tribes to make sure we’re not affecting any of their native lands, wildlife clearances,” Slaugh said. “You have to get with the Game and Fish and U.S. Fish and Wildlife. And the of course, the DEQ, so you have air quality, land quality, solid and hazardous waste, and the EPA. You’ve got to talk to every agency you can think of.”
Trump’s goal to get mines with critical minerals into production within a two-year timeframe will be helpful, Slaugh said.
In the meantime, the company expects to have its final permit in hand in Octobe, in a best-case scenario. Onceit has that, Slaugh believes Pacific Soda will likely start “a little bit of construction here and there.”
“I do think, to keep our permits active and in good standing with the state and other agencies, that we will start little bits of construction,” he said. “So we can get moving when the conditions are right and get into production more quickly.”
Now it’s just a waiting game for China’s next move and “seeing where the market conditions go.”
“I do know, if it were up to me and the markets were good, we’d start tomorrow,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but that’s it in a nutshell. We’re waiting. We had permit delays and we’re working through it.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
