Redmond Minerals: The Heart of Hard Rock Mining (2023)

30. August 2022

Industrial operations at the sprawling Redmond Mine in Redmond, Utah, have a humanity that defies overhanging metal structures and machinery that fights rust from salt and clay.

Few places on earth are endowed with the bounty of the Redmond Salt Mines. Its workers are down-to-earth, with former miners sitting at office desks and current vice presidents grinding salt hundreds of feet below. youHeir's products are diverse, from ice cream paths to dinner plates. Most of the time,Redmond's culture is unique; it runs as deep as the mine and as colorful as the salt that is extracted from it.

This company builds on the past, invests in its people, and looks to the future. Let's take a trip to the mine and the heart of Redmond.

Discovering an ancient mineral deposit

Long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, central Utah lay beneath a large body of water called the Sundance Sea. As the water receded over time, a large seabed of mineral salt was left behind. Subsequently, volcanic activity erupted in the region, spewing a thick layer of ash that transformed into bentonite clay and formed a protective layer over the site. The rich mineral reserve eventually crystallized and remained in pristine condition.

Fast forward millions of years. Wildlife grazed on the vegetation above the reservoir, and Native American Indians harvested and traded salt with other tribes. And a few thousand years laterHe,In time, two brothers took picks and shovels and started a hard rock mining company that still thrives today. That is where the roots of Redmond and our history begin.

Underground at the Redmond Salt Mine

“It was my grandfather and his brother who started this mine,” says Kyle Bosshardt as he drives his diesel truck through the massive 70-foot-wide mine entrance with me in the passenger seat. "They knew this mineral deposit was on his property, but they didn't do anything with it because they were farmers and they needed the land."

Milo and Lamar Bosshardt made a living on their land near Redmond, Utah, until plans changed in 1958. A drought hit the area, the soil dried up, and crops failed. The two brothers were left without resources and desperately needed a new job to support their families. So they decided to checklowBoden.

"The drought forced them into the mining business," Kyle explains as we descend into the mine.

While Redmond started out as an open pit mine, workers have been tunneling underground, extracting red rock salt from the ground and extracting nearly 2,500 tons per day for more than three decades.

Kyle has been at Redmond for 32 years, spending 22 of those years drilling the more than 14 miles of tunnels at the mine. Today, he offers tours of the cavernous space for clients, community groups, and people like me.

"I guess one of my titles is tour guide and public relations man," he says as the truck's headlights glide through tunnels dug floor-to-ceiling in solid rock salt.

I learn that the pink, white, and red streaks in the salt are due to dozens of naturally occurring trace elements in the deposit. I'm also quickly learning that Redmond employees are uncomfortable changing when asked for their titles. Although he doesn't mention it, my tour guide is also a plant manager and sits on the company's board of directors.

"We're using friendlier titles here," Kyle explains. “We try not to have a hierarchy that rules everything. We want each employee to make his contribution and enjoy his work ”.

A hundred meters below the surface, Kyle cuts the truck's engine and we climb out to take a closer look at the massive salt wall of the mine with our headlights. The 70-foot-wide tunnels stay a moderate 45-60 degrees year-round and are surprisingly open and breezy. But without truck headlights, and even a staggering few seconds without the beam of our headlights, it's as inky black. That never bothered Kyle though, nor did other nuances of the mine.

"I was part of his creation, so I feel at home," he says.

Kyle even has a crib tucked away in a corner where he occasionally turns a blind eye. "It's cool, dark, quiet. They have a bit of white noise from the mine's ventilation system. It's the perfect conditions for a nap."

Discover Redmond's diverse range of brands and products

Redmond has a dozen different ways that it uses the mineral salt and bentonite clay, which they call the "clay of a thousand uses," mined from their deposit. But his adventures are not limitedsoloto salt and clay. The parent company has asurprisedVariety of unique brands.with services ranging from fresh produce from the court to fencing and fishing.

Redmond's two mineral companies make products you may already have in your kitchen, bathroom, or barn.redmond lifeoffers premium products for human health and beauty, such as:real salt,Redmond-ton, YRe-Lyte. While Redmond Minerals (redmond horses,hunt,Agriculture,ice cutter, Ywestern clay) produce nutrient-dense supplements for animals and sustainable resources for the environment. All products often begin and end with the simple yet complex minerals that are mined and milled in Redmond.

Why is it important to keep it natural?

I met Brandon Foote for lunch at a local restaurant to learn more about what Redmond does and why it's imperative to keep their products simple.

Brandon has been with the company for 15 years. He is officially the vice president of Redmond Minerals. His business card unofficially reads "pioneer." He greets me in a flannel shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots, and over corn cob salad, we chat about Redmond products for animals and people.

"It's important to us to keep our products as natural as possible," says Brandon. “We don't add a lot of sweeteners or fillers. We have a saying that nature is right. Basically, we believe that God put things here so that we can be healthy. If we find it and don't mess it up, that's the way to go."

Redmond products are unrefined and natural. I appreciate it when I sprinkle a little Echte Salz® on my salad. The diner fills shakers at each table, and the subtly sweet salt that flavors my food is also the same mineral salt that feeds cattle, horses, and other backyard animals.

"We believe our customers want and value exceptional natural products for both themselves and their pets," Brandon explains. "They want to know that what they feed their animals they can eat."

Encounter with the heart of Redmond

Redmond Minerals employs 380 people, 15 of whom work in the warehouse where industrial and agricultural products are packaged, packaged, and shipped to wholesalers, small-town food stores, and individual customers.

Sammy Bates is the leader of the warehouse team. He has worked in Redmond for more than three decades. Sammy looks the typical blue-collar in faded jeans, steel-toed boots, a hoodie, and a Denver Broncos cap; Yet he's just emerged from an afternoon meeting with the company's CEO, the Good to Great book tucked under his arm as he leads me through the camp.

Take the motivation book as if it came naturally, because it is. All workers, from the mill to the mine to management, read the same books and take courses on how to be a better person and start a better company. Sammy is a tough guy, but he gets a little emotional when he talks about Redmond culture.

"It's like a family," he says. “There is an opening here. People feel like they can be themselves. I love the culture, the closeness, but what fills me every day is the people. I'm a firm believer that if you enjoy who you're doing it with, you can still have a good time, even if you're lying."

Sammy's team is made up of workers he calls "brave and genuine." Some have worked at the camp for decades; others are comparatively new. If he returns in a few years, some may have moved on to marketing or management roles like others have before.

"We try to get people to where their strengths are," Sammy explains. “That location might be in the warehouse now, but it might be somewhere else five years from now. That's what I enjoy about my job: trying to help people find their song."

find a song

Charlie Wilson is a member of Sammy's crew who sang many songs in Redmond.

"I've done every job in the warehouse, in the mine, in the mill, every job at this company except here in the office," Charlie says as we chat in a conference room in Redmond's modest headquarters.

Charlie is the headbagger. He is wiry, quick with responses, and a man of short words and no wasted motions, a must when packing up to 5,000 items a day.

Charlie's day starts at 5:30 am. He arrives at the warehouse, coffee in hand, starts the machines, sweeps the store, and repairs the elevator and chute. And then he packs... and packs. for eight hours. And he likes it. And while he packs, he thinks about important things.

"I think about every new book we're reading right now," he says, "or maybe a new project or assembly line change to make things go faster."

As we chat, Charlie can't wait to get back to work. He makes a living by being busy. He has worked in Redmond for 34 years and is considering retiring in two and a half years when he turns 70. So I ask him, what is he doing then?

"I'll relax for two weeks and then look for another job," he replies.

Maybe even another job in Redmond so she can try a new tune. but if hedisapproving gestureWhat will you miss most about Redmond?

"Everything," he says.

augmentation of human experience

As my day in Redmond comes to a close, I reflect on the experience. Two things stand out: there's a big beating heart and lively culture behind the company's industrial goings-on; And as Redmond grows in size, scope, and products...it's primarily the people.

"The purpose of this company is not to make money," Sammy says as we leave the warehouse and head to the parking lot. “Our goal is to create opportunities for people and provide excellent services and products to our customers. With this philosophy the final resultEsMaking money, but we don't think about that when we do it."

What they're thinking about is trying to live by their company motto, Elevate the human experience, make people better with every interaction.

Driving from Redmond onto a country road lined with hills and fields, I remember what the vice president of the company said to me over lunch.

"Redmond believes in people," Brandon said. “We believe in collaboration and problem solving. We are a company of people. We're trying to make this a place where people can grow and develop and become who they want to be, no matter where they start. We are."

YHemakes Redmond so unique.

(Written by Amber Foote. Original version reprinted in Barrel Pen Xtreme Quarterly Journal, Summer 2019.)

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