Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Continuous
- Room-and-pillar
|
Processing |
- Calcining
- Dewatering
- Dissolving & Crystallising
- Solar evaporation
|
Mine Life | 50 years (as of Jan 1, 2019) |
Source:
p. 17
Company | Interest | Ownership |
Ciner Resources LP
|
51 %
|
Indirect
|
Ciner Wyoming LLC
(operator)
|
100 %
|
Direct
|
A 51% membership interest in Ciner Wyoming LLC (the "Company") is owned by Ciner Resources LP ("Ciner Resources"). Ciner Resources LP controls and operates Ciner Wyoming. Ciner Wyoming LLC is the operator of a trona ore mining operation and a soda ash refinery in the Green River Basin of Wyoming. NRP Trona LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Natural Resource Partners LP ("NRP"), owns a 49% non-operating equity interest in the Company (Ciner Wyoming LLC).
Summary:
The Green River Basin geological formation holds the largest, and one of the highest purity, known deposits of trona ore in the world.
Location of mining beds and high purity trona.
Mining beds are located 800 to 1,100 feet below the surface, which is significantly closer to the surface than the mining beds of other operators in the Green River Basin. The relatively shallow depth of beds compared to other Green River Basin trona mines contributes to favorable ground conditions and improved mining efficiency. In addition, the trona in mining beds has a higher concentration of soda ash as compared to the trona mined at other locations in the Green River Basin, which is typically imbedded or mixed with greater amounts of halite and other impurities. Ciner's trona ore is generally composed of approximately 80% to 89% pure trona.
Mining Methods
- Continuous
- Room-and-pillar
Summary:
Company's mining leases and license are located in two mining beds, designated by the U.S. Geological Survey as beds 24 and 25, at depths of 800 to 1100 feet, respectively, below the surface. Mining these beds affords several competitive advantages. First, the depth of beds is shallower than other actively mined beds in the Green River Basin, which allows to use “Room and Pillar Method” and a continuous mining technique to mine trona and roof bolt the ceiling simultaneously. In addition, mining two beds that are on top of one another allows for production efficiencies because Company is able to use a single hoisting shaft to service both beds.
Processing
- Calcining
- Dewatering
- Dissolving & Crystallising
- Solar evaporation
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
Processing assets consist primarily of material sizing units, conveyors, calciners, dissolver circuits, thickener tanks, drum filters, evaporators and rotary dryers.
In trona ore processing, insoluble materials and other impurities are removed by thickening and filtering liquor, a solution consisting of sodium carbonate dissolved in water. Ciner Wyoming then adds activated carbon to filters to remove organic impurities, which can cause color contamination in the final product. The resulting clear liquid is then crystallized in evaporators, producing sodium carbonate monohydrate. The crystals are then drawn off and passed through a centrifuge to remove excess water. The resulting material is dried in a product dryer to form anhydrous sodium carbonate, or soda ash. The resulting processed soda ash is then stored in on-site storage silos to await shipment by bulk rail or truck to distributors and end customers. Ciner Wyoming’s storage silos can hold up to 65,000 short tons of p ........

Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Trona
|
Recovery Rate, %
| ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  | ......  |
Trona
|
Head Grade, %
| 86.6 | 85.6 | 88.4 | 87.5 | 85.8 |
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Reserves at December 31, 2020:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Proven
|
99.3 M tons
|
Trona
|
86 %
|
Probable
|
112.5 M tons
|
Trona
|
85.8 %
|
Proven & Probable
|
211.9 M tons
|
Trona
|
85.9 %
|
Heavy Mobile Equipment as of December 31, 2019:
HME Type | Quantity |
Continuous miner
|
7
|
Shuttle car
|
14
|
Aerial view:
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