OUR CORE PURPOSE
Through the responsible transformation of the Earth’s natural resources, we help keep people safe, feed the world and enrich lives, every day.
WHAT WE DO
Compass Minerals produces salt, plant nutrients and magnesium chloride for distribution primarily in North America. We also provide secure records storage in a retired mine in the United Kingdom. Products from Compass Minerals serve a variety of applications in industrial, agricultural, commercial and consumer markets.
OUR FOCUS ON ESG
As a leading global provider of essential minerals focused on the long-term sustainability of our company, we are committed to addressing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues that matter most to our company and our stakeholders. These considerations support our commitment to safe production, environmental stewardship and a diverse and inclusive culture.
Compass Minerals operates a competitive portfolio of advantaged mining and manufacturing assets in three countries. Use the key below for location details and information.
Compass Minerals employs a number of production methods to develop quality products. Select a method below to learn more.
Compass Minerals offers a variety of salt brands tailored to a range of industries from deicing and industrial to food grade, water care and beyond. Below is a complete list of the Compass Minerals salt brands. For more information on a salt brand, click the logo to be redirected to its website.
U.S. BRANDS
CANADIAN BRANDS
BULK HIGHWAY AND SPECIALTY PRODUCTS
Resources
Compass Minerals’ company headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas, is home to our senior management team and a hub of activity for our finance, operations, commercial and corporate service teams. Our headquarters is also a support for our geographically diverse sales team — a team that spans across the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
Our Innovation Center, located in Stilwell, Kansas, has a team of scientists and researchers working to help drive innovation in our operations, product development and application processes.
Compass Minerals’ mechanical evaporation plants produce high-purity, fine- and coarse-grained salt products in packages and in bulk for commercial, agricultural and industrial applications.
- Amherst, Nova Scotia
Canada
- Goderich, Ontario
Canada - Lyons, Kansas
U.S.
- Unity, Saskatchewan
Canada - Wynyard, Saskatchewan
Canada
Mechanical evaporation uses high-efficiency processes to yield high-purity salt for consumer, agricultural and industrial applications. We begin by injecting water into an underground salt deposit to create saturated brine. The brine is drawn out and evaporated in a series of large crystallizers. As the water evaporates, salt crystals remain and are then washed to remove impurities. In the final phases, salt is passed through a filter-dryer and then on to a processing area. The end result is a high-purity crystallized salt.
We package water conditioning and deicing products for retail and professional markets. Product components are shipped in bulk to the locations where they are blended and packaged for sale through grocery, hardware, and farm and home stores, and for distribution to janitorial and sanitation professionals. The facilities serve deicing and water conditioning customers in the Central, Midwestern and parts of the Northeastern U.S.
Our Wynyard, Saskatchewan, production facility uses ion exchange (IX) and glaserite processes to produce potassium sulfate (SOP). The IX products are some of the highest-purity SOP products in the world. The glaserite process produces SOP through a chemical reaction of anhydrous sodium sulfate and crystalline potassium chloride. IX-produced SOP is used in many specialty areas including pharmaceutical and food industries, while SOP manufactured by glaserite is generally used as a specialty fertilizer in high-value crops and other industrial uses.
By combining ancient techniques with advanced technologies, we annually produce salt, sulfate of potash (SOP) and magnesium chloride using the pond-based feedstock at our Great Salt Lake facility near Ogden, Utah. Our 55,000-acre solar evaporation pond complex is one of only four in the world that can produce SOP from a naturally occurring brine source using solar evaporation. It is the largest production site of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. Additionally, we have identified a lithium brine resource of approximately 2.4 million metric tons lithium carbonate equivalent at our solar evaporation site.
Solar evaporation is the oldest and most energy-efficient method of mineral production. At our Ogden, Utah, location at the Great Salt Lake, we draw highly concentrated saline waters from the lake’s most remote areas into very shallow solar evaporation ponds to produce salt, sulfate of potash (SOP) and magnesium chloride. Compass Minerals is the largest SOP and magnesium chloride producer in North America.
Our DeepStore business combines comprehensive, bespoke storage solutions, state-of-the-art technology and heightened security 500 feet below ground in a retired section of the salt mine to provide record management services.
Compass Minerals has three underground mining locations, one of which is the largest underground salt mine in the world. The rock salt that is mined helps keep people safe and keep commerce moving in winter weather. It also is packaged and sold for a variety of uses, or sold in bulk to manufacturers of plastics, detergents, disinfectants and other important products.
We produce rock salt from underground mines using both drill-and-blast and continuous mining techniques. Our rock salt mines are located between 500 feet and 1,800 feet below ground, and our mine in Goderich, Ontario, is the largest underground salt mine in the world. Our mines have extensive, consistent reserves with decades of remaining production. Whether produced through drill-and-blast or continuous mining, we extract salt from each mine in rectangular “room” sections, leaving behind vast “pillars” of salt to support the mine structure.
CONTINUOUS MINING
The continuous mining method, which we employ at our mines in Winsford, Cheshire, and Goderich, Ontario, is a modern mining technique that has been implemented for improved sustainable operations. It uses state-of-the-art machines with steel cutting picks to shear salt from the rock face, thus avoiding the need for explosives.
DRILL-AND-BLAST
The drill-and-blast mining method used at our Cote Blanche mine begins by cutting into the rock salt face using specialized equipment. We then drill holes into the face and use explosives to break the salt into large rocks. Front-end loaders and trucks load and haul the salt to a crusher where it is reduced in size, loaded onto a conveyor belt and transported to a mill. The mill screens and crushes the rock salt to the customary size before the salt is hoisted to the surface.
