Compass Mineral International has been starting to focus on extracting lithium more efficiently. The company is not only a leading supplier of essential minerals like salt and sulfate of potash used in plant fertilizer but also has made partnerships with Ford and LG Energy in supplying lithium.
Compass Mineral has doubled lithium extraction by developing a new technology to extract the minerals with minimal environmental impact. The company will continue to play a vital role in the industry as the major salt producer in North America and the UK.
The company has been active in the industry for almost two centuries and its revenue is exceeding $1 billion per year. The recent aim of the Compass Mineral is to diminish its reliance on weather-dependent minerals and to divert its focus toward the EV industry which has high growth potential.
Moreover, with the Inflation Reduction Act, the EV industry will grow even more with a tax credit of up to $7,500 on new and $4,000 on used EV purchases. Also, for an EV to qualify for the tax credit, 40% of its battery minerals must be sourced from the US or its free trade partners, which will rise to 80% after 2026.
This new situation creates a great opportunity for mineral suppliers like Compass Minerals to fulfill the increasing supply need. It is predicted that the demand for lithium to be used in batteries in North America will grow by 700% by 2025 and by 1,000% by 2030.
Because of the new incentives from the government and high prices, lithium extraction became more attractive. For this reason, the lithium project of Compass Minerals in Ogden, Utah is growing. Also, the company has recently announced a significant breakthrough in the project.
Company Minerals will use the direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology of EnergySource Minerals so that they will have a minimal impact on the environment. The extracted minerals will fulfill the supply agreements between Compass Minerals and EV leaders, including Ford and LG Energy.
DLE Method by EnergySource Minerals with Minimum Environmental Impact
After three years of “extensive testing”, Compass Minerals decided to use the DLE technology of EnergySource Minerals because its proprietary ILiAD adsorption technology proved to be the most successful across four key combined assessment categories: lithium recovery; magnesium rejection; minimized environmental impact; and commercial readiness.
Chris Yandell, Head of Lithium at Compass Minerals, explains the logic behind this choice as follows:
“Our selection of ESM results from a comprehensive, competitive process, and we are excited to forge ahead on our lithium development with their team as a trusted provider. Our multi-year assessment was focused on matching the right technology with our specific lithium brine resource – and we are confident we’ve done just that with this provider selection.”
The ILiAD technology by EnergySource Minerals is considered the best among others and commercially ready. The technology dramatically reduces the water footprint of operations, does not consume reagents, demonstrates order-of-magnitude longer operating life, and has the highest lithium recovery rates. EnergySouce Minerals has tested the technology platform on a variety of brines and is ready to be rapidly deployed on a global scale.
“As the world transitions to a clean energy economy, lithium demand is increasing dramatically,” said Dr. David Deak, of EnergySouce Minerals. “Currently, lithium extraction has a high environmental cost, and is produced from a limited range of geographies. A technology change is required to enable a broader, more sustainable resource base. ILiAD is that technology.”
