Collection

• Commercial sea salt is collected from the world's oceans and saline lakes, such as the Great Salt Lake and the Dead Sea, and transported to production sites. On arrival, the water is placed into large concentration ponds called condensers. At this stage, sodium chloride concentration in the water is about 3.5 percent.
  
  

Evaporation

• At this stage of the process, the sea water inside the condensers evaporates, leaving behind sodium chloride deposits. Crude salt deposits are harvested and washed. The remaining salt continues to increase in concentration.
  
  

Purification

• Many chemicals found in sea water are not included in the final salt product. Such chemicals, including calcium carbonate, magnesium and potassium, are removed by further increasing the sea salt concentration in condensers. The sea salt purification process can take up to two years.
  
  

Crystallization

• Crystallization occurs when the salt reaches a purity level of 99.7 percent sodium chloride. At this point, highly concentrated magnesium brine is drained off and discharged or further processed to produce other minerals.
  
  

Finishing

• The final stage of the sea salt refining process involves stripping the salt layers and loading them onto mobile harvester trucks. The salt layers are taken to washing facilities and cleaned to dissolve any remaining impurities. After cleaning, salt is crushed, dried and prepared for sale.