Recently, Huai'an achieved a major breakthrough in geological exploration with the discovery of a 660m giant rock salt bed in the Zhougao Section of the Xienian Mining Area, Qingjiangpu District. It is of great importance to the deeper mining in the Xieniang area as well as the Huai'an Salt Basin as a whole.

Previous geological work has been carried out to a depth of about 1200m, and it is generally believed that the salt-bearing section has been completely exposed. In other words, it means that below 1200m there is basically no salt at all, and the total thickness of the available industrial salt bed is about 350m at most. The discovery of the 660m salt bed increases the NaCl by nearly 1 billion tons, totaling approximately 2 billion tons, with a predicted mineral rights value of over RMB 2.5 billion. The Huai'an Salt Basin covers both the Qingjiangpu District and the Huai'an District, with an area of 247 square kilometers.