Salt
Sodium chloride, made almost everywhere, feeds the chlor-alkali industry and keeps winter roads open; once it funded empires.
Industrial minerals · No. 59
- Not on a critical list
- HHI 938 · unconcentrated
Salt once made up 30-50% of Venice's import tonnage; today 42% of US salt feeds the chlorine and caustic soda industry.
Chart: Illustration: Salt
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Salt comes four ways: rock salt mined from ancient beds and domes, solution mining that returns brine, solar evaporation of seawater, and vacuum-pan refining. World output was about 270 Mt in 2025.
Three things to know
- US vacuum-pan salt sold for about $260/t in 2025, while salt in brine fetched only about $11/t.
- Several small icing events need more road salt than one big snowstorm, so winter stockpiles matter more than reserves.
- Despite being the second-largest producer, the US relied on imports for 31% of its salt in 2025.
The journey
- 1 SourceRock beds, domes, brines or seawater
- 2 ExtractionMining, solution mining or solar evaporation
- 3 GradesRock, brine, solar or vacuum-pan salt
- 4 UsersChlor-alkali plants, road depots, food
- 5 ProductsPVC, chlorine, caustic soda, ice-free roads