Across the Soda Ash Industry: China Is Moving Forward With Another Massive Natural Soda Ash Project
September 24, 2026
For the past several years, one of the biggest stories in the global soda ash industry has been the rapid growth of natural soda ash production in Inner Mongolia.
Now another major project is moving forward.
China Salt is advancing a new natural soda ash development in Naiman Banner, Inner Mongolia, designed to produce 5 million metric tons of soda ash per year.
And there is an important distinction to make right away:
This is not the massive Inner Mongolia natural soda ash operation we’ve already been following.
That project, developed by Inner Mongolia Berun/Boyuan in the Alashan region, has already added millions of tons of natural soda ash capacity to the Chinese market.
The China Salt development is a separate project in a different part of Inner Mongolia.
Recent documents from China Salt and the local government show that the project has moved well beyond simply identifying a deposit or announcing an idea.
How Big Is Five Million Tons?
It can be difficult to put a number like 5 million metric tons into perspective.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the entire United States produced approximately 12 million metric tons of soda ash in 2025.
China produced approximately 38 million tons.
That means the planned annual capacity of this one China Salt project would equal more than 40% of the United States’ entire annual soda ash production.
That comparison is only meant to show the project’s scale.
It does not mean five million tons will immediately enter the market, and it certainly doesn’t mean all five million tons would be exported or compete directly against Wyoming soda ash.
But it shows why the project deserves attention.
This Is More Than a Proposal on Paper
There are several reasons this project is becoming harder to dismiss as simply another announced development.
China Salt has already obtained the mining rights for the Naiman Banner natural soda ash deposit.
Those rights weren’t cheap.
According to Naiman Banner government information, the mining rights were awarded in June 2025 after 125 rounds of bidding for approximately 6.81 billion yuan.
China Salt then began a solution-mining test project.
The company’s 2025 annual report says that test project began in September 2025 and was successfully completed by the end of March 2026.
That testing matters because the deposit isn’t being developed like a traditional underground trona mine.
The proposed operation would primarily use solution mining.
Water is injected underground to dissolve the natural soda ash deposit. The resulting brine is brought back to the surface and processed into soda ash.
By August, the Naiman Banner government reported that more than 4,000 batches of samples from the testing program had been analyzed. According to the local government and project officials, the resulting product exceeded China’s existing soda ash purity standard.
That’s still information coming from the project and local government, so it should be viewed in that context.
But the important point is that China Salt has actually tested the deposit and the proposed mining method.
The Project Is Now Moving Into Engineering and Infrastructure Work
September brought another series of developments.
On September 7, China Salt opened bidding for the design of temporary electrical systems for both the mining and processing areas.
The company’s procurement notice states that China Salt has obtained the Naiman Banner mining rights and needs the electrical infrastructure to support the project’s future commercial development.
Then, on September 15, China Salt opened bidding for specialized feasibility studies and preliminary engineering design for the 5-million-ton-per-year natural soda ash processing operation.
The work includes preliminary plant design along with safety, fire protection, environmental protection, energy conservation, occupational-health and other engineering studies.
Three days later, another China Salt procurement notice provided an even clearer picture of what is being planned.
The September 18 notice covers land and grassland approvals for several pieces of project infrastructure.
Among them are:
- A dedicated railway connection between the production area and the existing rail network.
- Two 220-kilovolt electrical transmission lines serving the project.
- Additional transmission infrastructure associated with the planned power facilities.
- Commercial solution-mining wells.
- Brine storage ponds.
- Brine pipelines and pumping stations.
- Roads, buildings, electrical systems and other supporting infrastructure.
For the solution-mining portion alone, the notice describes approximately 5,350 mu of land, or roughly 880 acres, associated with permanent and temporary project use.
These aren’t proof that a five-million-ton plant is guaranteed to be completed.
They are, however, evidence that detailed work is underway on how a commercial operation of that size would actually be built and supplied.
A Very Large Resource Sits Behind It
China Salt’s engineering documents describe the Naiman deposit as containing approximately 1.447 billion metric tons of natural soda ash resources.
The planned mining method is primarily solution mining, and the design production scale is 5 million metric tons per year.
The local Naiman Banner government has also listed the 5-million-ton natural soda ash development among its major new industrial projects for 2026.
Its description goes well beyond the mine itself.
Plans include the processing plant, brine transportation, soda ash processing, packaging, product storage and transportation, power generation, water systems and other supporting infrastructure.
In other words, the proposal isn’t simply to extract ore.
The goal is an integrated natural soda ash operation capable of producing finished product on a very large scale.
Why Wyoming Should Pay Attention
This is where the story connects back to Southwest Wyoming.
The Green River Basin is one of the world’s great natural soda ash resources, and Wyoming has supplied customers around the world for decades.
But Wyoming doesn’t operate in isolation.
USGS estimates that China produced approximately 38 million metric tons of soda ash in 2025, compared with approximately 12 million tons in the United States and 6 million tons in Turkey.
Together, those three countries accounted for roughly 80% of global soda ash production.
USGS also specifically identified China’s expansion of natural soda ash production in Inner Mongolia as a major factor behind global oversupply and falling soda ash prices.
China added approximately 5 million tons per year of natural soda ash capacity beginning in 2023.
That’s essentially the first Inner Mongolia project we’ve already been watching.
Now China Salt is advancing plans for another operation of roughly the same scale.
The Bigger Question Isn’t Just How Much China Builds
There is another side to this story that is just as important.
Much of China’s soda ash industry has historically relied on synthetic production.
Natural soda ash can have significant cost advantages compared with those higher-cost manufacturing processes.
So the real question isn’t simply:
What happens if China adds another five million tons?
It’s also:
What happens to China’s older, higher-cost synthetic production when that natural soda ash enters the market?
If new natural production eventually replaces higher-cost synthetic capacity that shuts down, the net increase in China’s total supply could be considerably smaller than the headline capacity numbers suggest.
But if synthetic plants continue operating while new natural soda ash projects ramp up, the industry could remain oversupplied for much longer.
That’s one of the most important things to watch.
What We Know — And What We Don’t
There is now strong public evidence that the China Salt project is advancing.
We know the mining rights have been secured.
We know solution-mining testing has been completed.
We know China Salt is commissioning engineering and feasibility work for a 5-million-ton operation.
And we know the company is working through land approvals and designs for commercial wells, brine infrastructure, electricity and rail transportation.
What we don’t have is just as important.
There is not yet a startup date that we would consider firm enough to present as fact.
And planned capacity isn’t the same thing as actual production.
A project this large still has to move through additional approvals, detailed engineering, construction, commissioning and eventually a production ramp-up.
Market conditions could also change along the way.
So we’re not going to tell our members that another five million tons of Chinese soda ash is definitely about to hit the global market.
That’s not what the evidence says.
What the evidence does say is that another massive natural soda ash project is moving through the development process in Inner Mongolia.
And given what the first major Inner Mongolia expansion has already done to the global supply picture, this one deserves our attention.
What We’ll Be Watching
There are several milestones we’ll continue following.
The biggest will be actual construction activity, major equipment contracts, completion of permitting and land approvals, development of the commercial well field, rail and power construction, and eventually any confirmed commissioning or startup schedule.
We’ll also keep watching China’s existing natural soda ash production.
That’s important because the impact of China Salt’s project can’t be understood by itself.
What matters is the combination of new natural soda ash capacity, existing Chinese production, domestic demand, exports, inventories, plant closures and global demand growth.
That’s ultimately what will determine whether China’s natural soda ash expansion replaces older production—or simply adds even more supply to an already competitive global market.
For Wyoming workers, that’s the story worth following.
Sources
China Salt Group Electronic Procurement Platform — September 7, 2026
China Salt procurement notice for temporary electrical-system engineering for the mining and processing areas. The notice confirms the company has obtained the Naiman Banner natural soda ash mining rights and identifies the project as a 5-million-metric-ton-per-year development.
China Salt Group Electronic Procurement Platform — September 15, 2026
Official tender for feasibility studies and preliminary engineering design for the 5-million-ton-per-year natural soda ash processing operation, including safety, environmental, energy and other engineering work.
China Salt Group Electronic Procurement Platform — September 18, 2026
Official land/grassland approval tender covering the project’s railway connection, electrical transmission infrastructure, commercial solution-mining wells, brine ponds, pipelines, pumping facilities, roads and supporting infrastructure.
China Salt Inner Mongolia Chemical Co. — 2025 Annual Report, filed April 30, 2026
Reports that the 5-million-ton solution-mining test project began in September 2025 and was completed by the end of March 2026. The filing also documents the ownership and investment structure surrounding China Salt’s Naiman development.
Naiman Banner People’s Government — August 11, 2026
Local government report on completion of the solution-mining testing program, including results from more than 4,000 sample batches and information about the deposit and mining-right auction.
Naiman Banner People’s Government — 2026 Major Project List
Lists the 5-million-ton natural soda ash development as a new major industrial project and describes the planned mining wells, processing plant, brine transportation, packaging, storage, power, water and supporting infrastructure.
U.S. Geological Survey — Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Soda Ash
USGS estimates 2025 soda ash production of approximately 38 million metric tons in China and 12 million tons in the United States. USGS also identifies China’s Inner Mongolia natural soda ash expansion as a major contributor to global oversupply and weaker prices.
Source Note
Several of the primary sources used in this article are official Chinese company or government publications and are published in Chinese. Readers may need to use their browser’s translation feature to view these sources in English. Where possible, information in this article was checked against multiple sources, with preference given to official company, government and U.S. Geological Survey records.