Koch Minerals & Trading, LLC (KM&T), a diverse global trading, logistics and investment company and subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc. (KII), is making a $252-million investment in Compass Minerals, a leading global provider of essential minerals, to support phase-one development of its previously identified 2.4 mMT lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) Great Salt Lake resource and debt reduction.
Approximately $200 million of the investment are expected to be used to advance the first phase of the company’s sustainable lithium development project. This figure represents approximately 75% of total phase-one funding needs, according to the company’s FEL-1 level project cost estimates, including the full funding required through calendar year 2024 toward the construction of a commercial scale, direct lithium extraction (DLE) and lithium conversion plant at the company’s Ogden, Utah, solar evaporation facility.
Compass Minerals has selected EnergySource Minerals (ESM) as the DLE technology provider following three years of extensive testing of multiple DLE technologies. In pilot tests to date, ESM’s proprietary ILiAD adsorption technology has proven successful in processing Compass Minerals’ brine resource across four key assessment categories: lithium recovery; magnesium rejection; minimized environmental impact; and commercial readiness.
Adsorption is a proven DLE technology already in use for commercial production at several lithium brine operations globally. Additionally, early conversion testing of Compass Minerals’ brine across a wide range of operating parameters has provided confidence in the scalability of the planned DLE facility to be located at Compass Minerals’ operations in Ogden, Utah.