Salt Solution Mining

In Ohio, solution mining involves the drilling of wells into the Salina salt deposits (that range from approximately 2000 to 3200 feet below the surface depending where you are in NE Ohio) and injecting freshwater or under-saturated brine into the salt deposits to dissolve the salt. As the salt is dissolved, an underground cavern is formed that is filled with fluid and pumped back to the surface as saturated brine. The brine is then either used as a raw material for chemical processing or for the manufacturing of table salt, water softener salt, or salt blocks for animals.

At least 300 wells at ten different facilities in Ohio have been drilled and operated since the late 1800s. Only three facilities and approximately 50 wells remain in operation today in Wayne County, Medina County, and Summit County, Ohio.  

Prior to 1983, there were no regulations regarding solution-mining operations in Ohio. Today, the Division of Mineral Resources Management requires annual subsidence surveying by each of the three operational solution-mining facilities. There is no documented evidence of sink-hole formation due to solution mining in Ohio. Sink-hole formation due to solution mining is well documented in Michigan, New York, Kansas, and Ontario, Canada where the salt beds are a lot shallower than in Ohio.