Redmond salt mine supplies Utah's roads and chef's kitchens

REDMOND, Sevier County — It's all right there. The walls, the ceiling, even the ground. Nothing but salt.

"There aren't very many salt mines like this," Zac Clayson said. He is on the industrial team at Redmond Minerals and deals with product orders, emails and phone calls all the time.

However, there is a big smile on his face when he takes people into the salt mine to show them how this massive central Utah operation works.

The deepest part of the salt mine is about 900 feet underground.

"You can see the different rocks, pretty much, these veins that come out," he said while pointing at a large salt wall with his flashlight.

Redmond Minerals, which is just outside the town of Redmond, in Sevier County, has done very well grinding those rocks into all kinds of salt. The company is well known for its agricultural salt, including salt licks for animals and, especially, its all-natural food salt.

"Chefs (and bakers) all over the world will use our salt," Clayson said.

Most of Redmond's efforts, though, are to provide salt for icy roads in the winter.

"We ship road salt all over the western United States by truck, by train," Clayson said.

Redmond's salt is well liked by winter weather states, too, because of its natural calcium and magnesium content.

Clayson said Redmond's salt melts ice when temperatures get down to about 0 degrees, where most other sodium chloride salts stop melting ice when temperatures get to about 20 degrees.

"Our product is a high-performing salt," he said.

One of Redmond's biggest customers is the state of Utah, where it has been quite the winter season so far. The Utah Department of Transportation uses several vendors for its statewide supply of salt.

Last year, the state transportation department purchased 28% of its supply from Redmond Minerals. Keeping the roads clear is something of which the Redmond team is quite proud.

"In Utah, they're called the Utah snow fighters," Clayson said. "Whether it's the miners or the drivers, their goal is to make sure the roads are safe. We all have family on these roads. We don't want accidents on the road. We don't want a school bus sliding off the road."

Mining salt at Redmond Minerals is a year-round operation. Salt is stored in large piles just outside the opening of the mine until it is needed on the roads. As Utah keeps getting snowstorms, calls for more salt keep coming in.

"I had a call this morning from a shed because of the storms last night," said Clayson. "They worked through the night, they were almost out of salt."

Trucks were lined up Wednesday to make deliveries — to the tune of 6,000 tons of salt.

He also knows more snowstorms are on the way.

So does his team.

"As a Utah snow fighter, these guys know they are on call to make sure everybody can get to where they need to go," he said. "Our goal is to do our part to help keep the roads clear."

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