Brine mining is the extraction of useful materials (chemical elements or compounds) which are naturally dissolved in brine. The brine may be seawater, other surface water, groundwater, or hyper-saline solutions from several industries (e.g., textile industries).[1] It differs from solution mining or in-situ leaching in that those methods inject water or chemicals to dissolve materials which are in a solid state; in brine mining, the materials are already dissolved.
Brines are important sources of common salt (NaCl), calcium, iodine, lithium, magnesium, potassium, bromine, and other materials, and are potentially important sources of a number of others. Brine mining supports waste minimization and resource recovery efforts.[2]