Добыча минералов методом солнечного испарения на Большом Солёном озере.

Mineral company

Solar evaporation is the oldest and most energy efficient method of mineral production. At the Great Salt Lake near Ogden, Utah, Compass Minerals draws naturally occurring brine out of the lake into shallow ponds and allows solar evaporation to produce salt, sulfate of potash (SOP) and magnesium chloride. Its SOP plant at the Great Salt Lake is the largest in North America and one of only three SOP brine solar evaporation operations in the world. Annual capacity is 350,000 tons of SOP, 1.5 million tons of salt, and 750,000 tons of magnesium chloride. In 2022 Compass Minerals announced the intention to develop the capacity to extract over 11 kMT LCE (Lithium Carbonate Equivalent) yearly at the Great Salt Lake site. The project has since been put on pause due to regulatory changes.

Compass Minerals operates two business segments, Salt and Plant Nutrition. Compass Minerals’ Salt Segment mines, produces, processes and distributes sodium chloride and magnesium chloride in North America and the U. K. The segment’s largest business is highway deicing, which primarily sells bulk rock salt to states, provinces, counties, municipalities and road maintenance contractors for ice control on public roadways. The highway deicing product line also includes flake and liquid magnesium chloride used for deicing and dust control; treated rock salt treated for deicing in very low temperatures; and rock salt for the chlor alkali industry. The salt segment also includes consumer and industrial product lines, which includes pure sodium chloride and blended products containing magnesium chloride, calcium chloride and potassium chloride for applications such as consumer and professional deicing, water conditioning, culinary salt, animal nutrition, swimming pool minerals, and industrial applications. Compass Minerals’ Plant Nutrition Segment produces sulfate of potash fertilizer. Compass Minerals’ domestic sales of SOP are concentrated in the Western and Southeastern U. S. and exports to Latin America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In 2021, Compass Minerals divested the last segment of their plant micronutrient assets in an agreement with Koch Agronomic Services.