Compass Minerals Announces Suspension of Lithium Project Pending Regulatory Clarity in Utah

Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP), a leading global provider of essential minerals, today announced that, until it has clarity on the evolving regulatory climate in Utah, it will be suspending indefinitely any further investment in its planned lithium project.

“While we remain confident in the value creation potential of this project, we also have a responsibility to our shareholders to operate as prudent stewards of the capital we expend,” said Kevin Crutchfield, president and CEO. “As we continue to engage in productive discussions with the State of Utah, I’m hopeful that we will be able to chart a path forward that will allow this resource to be responsibly developed for the great benefit of all stakeholders, including the State. Until we have that regulatory certainty, however, we will be suspending this project indefinitely and focusing our efforts on continuing to maximize the performance of our high-quality salt, plant nutrition and emerging fire retardant businesses.”

Compass Minerals’ Ogden facility has operated responsibly on the Great Salt Lake for over half a century. The company’s Ogden operation currently produces three essential mineral salts—sulfate of potash, sodium chloride and magnesium chloride—and provides approximately 370 local jobs. It is anticipated that the lithium project would create in excess of an additional 100 jobs in the area. Compass Minerals is an engaged community partner and active lake stakeholder, committed to the shared goal of protecting the long-term health and sustainability of the Great Salt Lake.

As previously announced, Compass Minerals is pursuing the sustainable development of an approximately 2.4 mMT lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) resource on the Great Salt Lake to help enable the critical formation and expansion of an advanced battery supply chain in North America. Utilizing synergies with its existing Ogden production assets, lithium chloride would be the fourth mineral salt harvested from the same unit of brine already being processed, minimizing environmental impact with no incremental brine draw required from the Great Salt Lake.

The March 2023 passage by the Utah State Legislature of House Bill 513 (H.B. 513, Great Salt Lake Amendments), and the subsequent regulatory rulemaking process it authorized with regard to lithium production on the Great Salt Lake, has introduced a significant amount of uncertainty regarding the regulatory environment in which the company’s lithium program would be operating, as well as the timing of when that investment could proceed. Since the inception of H.B. 513, Compass Minerals has actively engaged with the State of Utah in a collaborative attempt to ensure the provisions of the bill, now statute, were implemented in a way that would not slow or halt the progress the company has made to date in pursuing the development of a sustainable lithium salt resource to service the North American advanced battery market. The proposed rule published in mid-October by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands (FFSL) introduces new obstacles to lithium salt production on the Great Salt Lake that have slowed progress and will require resolution prior to Compass Minerals proceeding further.