Compass Minerals Identifies Approximately 2.4 Million Metric Ton Sustainable Lithium Resource

Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP), a leading global provider of essential minerals, today announced that it has identified a lithium brine resource of approximately 2.4 million metric tons lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at its active Ogden, Utah, solar evaporation site, including an indicated lithium resource within the ambient brine of the Great Salt Lake.

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Compass Minerals' solar evaporation ponds on the Great Salt Lake near Ogden, Utah (Photo: Business Wire)

For over 50 years, Compass Minerals’ Ogden facility has leveraged the high mineral concentrations within the ambient lake brine from the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake to produce sulfate of potash (SOP), salt and magnesium chloride products. The Ogden facility is the largest operation of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

Compass Minerals is currently undertaking a strategic evaluation to assess development options available to service growing U.S. domestic lithium market demand while maximizing the long-term value of its lithium resource.

“We are aggressively evaluating multiple paths forward for this significant lithium brine resource to optimize shareholder value, in parallel with a reassessment of our current capital allocation strategy,” said Kevin S. Crutchfield, president and CEO. “In a market hungry for domestically sourced lithium produced with minimal environmental impact, we believe a sustainable and readily available lithium resource like we have defined at our operations on the Great Salt Lake could be a true differentiator for our company. We look forward to communicating the results of our strategic evaluation and the selection of an extraction technology partner as we identify the most advantageous path forward for Compass Minerals.”

Resource Assessment

The company has completed an initial assessment to define the lithium resource at Compass Minerals’ existing operations in accordance with applicable Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, including subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K. The assessment estimates total combined indicated and inferred lithium resources of approximately 127,000 metric tons LCE within the interstitial brine (IB) held in the accumulated salt-mass reservoirs at Compass Minerals’ Ogden solar evaporation site. The assessment has also identified an additional indicated lithium resource of approximately 2.32 million metric tons LCE within the ambient brine of the Great Salt Lake, which can be accessed through the company’s existing infrastructure.