News Release

COLUMBUS, OH -- Recent winter storms have forced Ohio communities to pour on plenty of road salt, but state geologists say there's a generous supply underground -- enough to last Ohio thousands of snowy winters into the future.

"Our reserves of rock salt, lying several thousand feet beneath Lake Erie and eastern Ohio, should provide enough salt to last us thousands of years," says Mike Hansen, a senior geologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Geological Survey. "During these very snowy winters, the biggest obstacle is keeping thousands of communities in Ohio with enough salt supplies on hand to weather the next storm.

"Nearly 4,000,000 tons of salt will be mined in Ohio this year, ranking us among the top salt-producing states in the nation," Hansen says. "The industry directly employs 600 Ohioans and provides nearly 3,000 additional jobs in related occupations."

According to Hansen, Ohio is home to two active rock salt mining operations, each located about 2,000 feet beneath Lake Erie, at Cleveland and Fairport Harbor. These mines provide a majority of the salt used for ice control on Ohio streets and highways.

In addition to the two underground mines, three other salt-production operations in Ohio use a brine extraction and evaporation process, providing salt for industrial, food-processing and agricultural uses. Residential water-softener salt is among the these products.

Hansen says that salt was the first mineral to be mined in Ohio. Records dating back to the 1700s show that early settlers made salt at natural salt springs in southern Ohio. In the late 1800s, prospectors drilling for natural gas near Cleveland discovered extensive rock salt deposits under Lake Erie. Some of this salt was extracted as brine, but it was not until the late 1950s that salt mines were developed under the lake.

Ohio's rock salt deposits were formed during the Silurian Period, nearly 410 million years ago, when a warm, saline sea covered what is now eastern Ohio. As that sea evaporated, salt was precipitated, to form layers up to 200 feet thick.