Wyoming Coal Lights Up America

U-2013 Global Uranium Symposium

2013 Annual Convention

What is trona? Trona is a water soluble mineral formed from volcanic ash over a period of several million years.  It is mined as the primary source of natural sodium bicarbonate, or soda ash, in the United States.  The trona deposits in Southwest Wyoming are the largest in the world, with reserves of about 40 billion tons.  That is enough trona to provide for the world’s soda ash needs for 2,000 years.

Wyoming mines produced 17,058,975 tons of trona in 2012, an increase of 72,403 tons from 2011.

Wyoming Mining News

Time Lapse Video Shows Massive Wyoming Coal Mining Growth – (Mining.Com, May 11) - Google has released some amazing new time-lapse images of  changes on the earth's surface between 1984 and 2012.

Cameco Uranium Mine in Wyoming Begins Production; First of 6 New Mines Planned in Wyo., Neb. – (Associated Press, May 14) - Wyoming's newest uranium mine could account for a substantial portion of the state's uranium production in a couple years.

Solvay Sees Earnings Drop with No Sign Yet of Europe Recovery – (Bloomberg, May 13) - Solvay said it’s not seeing any significant improvement in European demand for the glass-making ingredient soda ash.

PRB 8,800 Coal Prices Assessed at Year-to-Date Highs – (Platts, May 13) - Powder River Basin 8,800-Btu/lb thermal coal prices for physical delivery were assessed 15-25 cents/st higher Monday, reaching their highest levels this year.

Peabody’s Boyce: Demand for Coal from Two Major Basins to Increase – (St. Louis Business Journal, May 15) - Power plant demand for coal from the Powder River Basin, which encompasses two counties in Wyoming, and the Illinois Basin, which includes most of southern Illinois, southeastern Indiana and western Kentucky, is expected to grow more than 25 percent from 2012 to 2017, or some 130 million tons, Boyce said.

Uranerz Seeks State Revenue Bond Funding – (Glenrock Independent, May 16) - The Wyoming Business Council has recommended that the state approve a $20 million loan to Uranerz Energy Corporation under the Wyoming Industrial Development Revenue Bond Program.

Coal Complex to Add Oil Terminal – (Wyoming Business Report, May 16) - Plans for yet another crude-oil rail terminal bubbled to the surface yesterday as Arch Coal Inc. and Meritage Midstream Services II LLC announced plans to service producers in the Powder River Basin.

Wyoming’s Pile of Coal – (High Country News, May 16) - This month, Wyoming coal companies will pull the 10 billionth ton of coal from the state's ground, according to a recent estimate by the Wyoming State Geological Survey.

Did you know?

Trona is mined underground at four operations west of Green River (FMC, OCI, Solvay, Tata) at depths ranging from 800 to 1600 feet.  The ore is mined using continuous, bore and long-wall mining machines, as well as solution mining. 

The primary use for trona and soda ash is glass.  Wyoming soda ash is a main component in baking soda, detergents and soaps.  It is used in chemical manufacturing, flue gas de-sulfurization, water treatment, and in the paper and pulp industry. About 50% of the soda ash produced in Wyoming is now exported to markets overseas.  It is Wyoming’s top export.

Wyoming leads the nation in the production of bentonite, coal, trona, and uranium.

Search Our Site

Fluid Dynamics Search Engine v20051 © 2001.