Ice cream salt, and rock salt, are mined using the deep shaft mining process. It is mined by blasting to the salt, mined and crushed. They remove NO impurities, including any impurities from the actual mining like dirt, blasting materials left behind, shavings or products from machinery, etc. This type of salt is not edible, but can be used in ice cream making or as a product used for melting ice, but NOT for consumption! Edible salt is mined using either solution mining, or solar evaporation mining, all of which use brining and evaporation to remove particles that are inedible, leaving only the pure salt for consuming. Solar evaporation is the least ‘invasive’ and produces a more natural salt, while solution mining entails removing minerals and then refining the salt further.