Morton Salt ceased mining operations this week at its salt mine in Fairport, Ohio following its discovery of a significant inflow of water in the mine on October 22.  

The Kansas-headquartered company said it immediately evacuated miners, ceased all underground operations and notified the appropriate regulatory authorities of the intrusion.  

All employees were evacuated safely, and there were no reported injuries in the incident, the company said in its Oct. 26 statement. 

 Morton said it is working closely with independent experts and regulatory authorities to investigate the intrusion, evaluate its impact on the mine, and determine the next steps.  

Surface activities at the Fairport mine site will be severely limited while the mine is closed, and the company said it will be notifying impacted customers and vendors of the force majeure event. 

The Morton Salt Group has an annual production capacity of approximately 30 million tons,  12 rock salt production facilities, 10 evaporated and solar salt plants, 16 packaging plants, and hundreds of distribution facilities, according to its website.  

Two days after the announcement, dozens of employees were laid off, Fox 8 news reported. 

Future mining operations remain uncertain, according to Fox 8 news.