commercially as fertilizer. The salt bed that is mined contains more minerals than just nitratine often containing sulfurous minerals as well as Iodine. Around 600,000 tons of nitratine are mined in Chile each year with other products such as Iodine and sodium sulfate mined as well.

Nitratine happens to be isostructural to calcite, CaCO₃, a widespread naturally occurring mineral, although nitratine dissolution and crystallization occur much faster than the same processes for calcite.