All Wyoming trona is mined underground. The trona is mined, then processed into soda ash or bicarbonate of soda, for a variety of uses. Wyoming has the world's largest deposit of trona, and supplies about 90% of the nation's soda ash.

Glassmaking consumes about half of soda ash output, followed by the chemical industry, which uses about a quarter of the output. Other uses include soap, paper manufacturing, and water treatment. All baking soda comes from soda ash, so you may have a boxful of a Wyoming trona product right in your kitchen.

Wyoming's trona originated as a precipitate from an ancient large freshwater lake. About 50 million years ago, Lake Gosiute covered as much as 15,000 square miles in southwestern Wyoming. Over a long period of evaporation, minerals settled to the lake bed to form the trona deposit which we mine today.

The U.S. has traditionally exported soda ash derived from trona. Current challenges to the industry include a slump in export demand due to the Asian economic slump, and new competition for the export market, particularly from China.