FMC Granger Mine

Producer in Sweetwater county in Wyoming, United States with commodities Sodium, Oil Shale, Halite, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Carbonate, Soda Ash
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Mineral rights holdings
  15. Land status
  16. Ownership information
  17. Links to other databases
  18. Bibliographic references
  19. General comments
  20. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10254740
MAS/MILS ID 560370029
Record type Site
Mineralized Area Green River Trona District
Current site name FMC Granger Mine
Alternate or previous names Blacks Fork Trona Mine (TG Soda Ash), Black Fork Trona Project, Blacks Fork Trona Mine, Texasgulf Soda Ash Project Mine, Texasgulf Soda Ash Mine, Wyoming Soda Ash Project, Texas Gulf Sulphur Corp., TG Soda Ash, Inc., Texasgulf Trona, Texasgulf - Trona, TGS, Texas Gulf Sulphur Company, Wyoming Soda Ash Operation of Texasgulf, Inc., Granger Mine, Tg Soda Ash Green River Facility
Included sites Green River Trona District

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Ore Body
Geographic coordinates: -109.905, 41.67889 (WGS84)
Elevation 1951
Location accuracy 500(meters)

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Sweetwater(county)

Wyoming(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Sevenmile Gulch(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Rock Springs(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Rock Springs(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Blacks Fork(hydrologic unit)

Upper Green(hydrologic accounting unit)

Great Divide-Upper Green(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management WY)

Bureau of Land Management WY BLM(Type of land area)

BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Wyoming Sweetwater

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 020 N 111 W 26 SE Wyoming
6th Principal 020 N 111 W 36 W2 Wyoming

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Sodium Primary
Oil Shale Tertiary
Halite Tertiary
Sodium Carbonate Primary
Sodium Carbonate Primary
Soda Ash Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • TRONA BEDS GENERALLY OVER 90% PURE. HALITE IN BEDS LESSENS VALUE. (Granger Mine W031826, 10089803)

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Trona Ore
Oil Shale Ore
Halite Ore
Calcite Gangue
Dolomite Gangue
Gaylussite Gangue
Nahcolite Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Evaporite
    Rock unit name Green River Formation, Wilkins Peak Member: Trona and evaporite bearing strata.
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Eocene

Nearby scientific data

Ore Body (1) -109.905, 41.67889

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure name Rock Springs Uplift
Type of structure Regional
Structure name Basin And Range Province; Green River Basin

Ore body information

  • General form tabular: blanket
    Depth to top 417.58M

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Underground
Development status Producer
Commodity type Non-metallic
Significant Yes
Discovery year 1938

Mining district

District name Green River Basin area
District name Green River Trona District

Mineral rights holdings

Type of mineral rights Federal Lease

Land status

Ownership category BLM Administrative Area

Ownership information

  • Type Owner
    Owner Potash Corp. Of Saskatchewan
    Interest 85
    Home office Canada
    Year 1995
    First year 1995
  • Type Operator
    Owner Texasgulf, Inc. (Elf Aquitain Sa Owns 85% Of TG)
    ID 4800639
    Interest 100
    Home office Connecticut
    Year 1978
    First year 1978
    Last year 1995
  • Type Owner
    Owner Williams Co. (Owns 15% Of Texasgulf)
    Interest 15
    Home office Connecticut
    Year 1995
    Last year 1995
  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Texas Gulf Sulfur Corp.
  • Type Owner
    Owner Elf Aquitain SA
    Interest 85
    Home office FRANCE
    Year 1995
    Last year 1995

Comments on the production information

  • Granger Mine (MRDS W031826, newMRDS 10089803) gives 1977 as year of first production and discovery in 1938 by Mountain Fuel Supply Co. It also gave discovery method as "ore-material in place" which A.B. Wilson changed to "drilling."

Comments on the workings information

  • The Granger property is solution mining. No conventional underground mining takes place here.

Comments on development

  • VAST DEPOSIT FOUND WHILE DRILLING OIL AND GAS TEST WELL. (Granger Mine W031826, 10089803)

Reference information

Bibliographic references

Comments on the references

  • Original reference read "MESA MET-NONMET MINE FILE REF GS OF WYO CRS-2 1972" Unable to determine what MESA MET-NONMET MINE FILE is. CRS-2 is Glass and others, 1973.

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit Trona was found by drilling. Thus A.B. Wilson changed discovery method from "Ore-material in place" to "drilling".
General Texas Gulf Sulphur Corp (misspelled Sulpher) [MAS 0560370276, newMRDS 10303458] record by IFOC on 23-nov-1983 gives location as bing in T20N R111W, Sec. 26 and also in W2 of Sec. 25. Reference is Root and others, 1973. NO other site specific information.
Deposit WILKINS PEAK MEMBER OF THE GREEN RIVER FM. HAS OVER 25 EXTENSIVE TRONA BEDS RANGING UP TO 37 FEET THICK AND COVERING AN AREA UP TO 850 SQ. MILES. ELEVEN BEDS ARE OVER 6 FT THICK. A TOTAL OF 50 BILLION TONS OF TRONA ARE ESTIMATED FOR THE AREA. (Granger Mine W031826, 10089803)
General Granger Mine [W031826, 10089803] record by David M. Sutphin, 01-may-1982, USGS contained additional information as follows: Local Alteration--Trona May Be In Part A Diagenetic Product Of Reaction Between Evaporite Minerals And Na-Rich Water From The Weathering Of Andesitic Tuffs Of Green River Formation. Geochemical Studies (Parker, Et Al, 1971) Have Shown That The Green River Was Probably A Source Of Na-Rich Water. Solution Activity And Reorganization Of Material Is Evident Including Enlarged Grainsize And Secondary Redeposition Of Trona (Parker, Et Al, 1971). Local Structure--Rock Springs Uplift, East Of Trona Area, Stratigraphic High During Much Of Green River Fm. Depositional Period. It Created A Barrier Restricting Water Circulation And Aiding Evaporite Precipitation. Regional Structure--Basin And Range Province; Green River Basin; East Of Overthrust Belt, South Of Wind River Mts. Ore Control--Chemical Precipitation From Waters Of 15,000 Sq. Mi. Lake Gosiute During 1 Million Yr. Period Of Aridity And Restricted Circulation.
Deposit PARKER, ET AL, 1971, GIVES A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT OF THE GENESIS OF THE GREEN RIVER TRONA DEPOSITS, INCLUDING THE GEOCHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, PALEOENVIRONMENT, AND THE MINING OF TRONA. (Granger Mine W031826, 10089803)
General PRESS RELEASE: FMC Corporation 1735 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 215.299.6000 phone 215.299.5998 fax News Release www.fmc.com For Release: Immediate Media contact: Jim Fitzwater - 215.299.6633 Investor Relations contact: Brennen Arndt - 215.299.6266 FMC to Continue Curtailment of Granger Soda Ash Facility PHILADELPHIA, July 30, 2009 -- FMC Wyoming Corporation announced today its decision to continue the curtailment of operations at its Granger soda ash facility, representing a change to its previously announced plans. In April, 2009, FMC temporarily suspended operations at the Granger facility to align production with the decreased level of U.S. exports resulting from the global economic slowdown. FMC planned to restart the facility later in 2009 if needed to meet export demand in the second half of the year. FMC expects export demand to recover, but at a level that does not immediately require the incremental Granger production. Output from Granger is dedicated to supply export demand through the American Natural Soda Ash Corporation (ANSAC), which is the export marketing and logistics organization that serves export geographies, primarily Latin America and Asia. “There is no fundamental change in our operating philosophy,” said Ed Flynn, president of FMC Wyoming. “Due to its low start-up cost, our Granger facility has always been utilized as swing capacity to meet rising export demand. While ANSAC has successfully regained share, revised export demand projections for the second half of 2009 do not warrant a restart of the Granger operation at this time.”

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 1983-11-23 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Reporter 1983-11-23 South Dakota School of Mines U.S. Bureau of Mines
Reporter 1996-06-25 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Reporter 1996-06-25 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines
Editor 2009-04-03 Wilson, Anna B. U.S. Geological Survey revised 7-jun-2010

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

Current status (per MSHA)

StatusAbandoned since 06/07/2007
MSHA mine ID4800639
Mine name (MSHA)FMC @ GRANGER
Current operatorFMC Corp
Mine typeUnderground (Metal / non-metal)

MSHA cross-reference per the original MRDS record. Mine status and operator reflect MSHA's last published Mines export (February 2025); MSHA's public bulk feed has been unavailable since, so this may be out of date. See the Mine Data Retrieval System for current status.

Open MSHA's Mine Data Retrieval System for inspections, accidents, and violations for this mine.