Shares of Compass Minerals International (NYSE: CMP) shot up this morning and gained as much as 17.9% as of 9:40 a.m. EDT. The otherwise boring company that primarily deals in salt and plant nutrients has made a discovery that has the potential to turn its fortunes around.
On July 13, Compass Minerals announced the discovery of a lithium brine resource with nearly 2.4 million metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) at its solar evaporation site in Ogden, Utah. That's huge, given that the total identified lithium resources in the U.S. stand at around 7.9 million tons, according to the World Bank. Brine, or seawater with a high concentration of lithium carbonate, is the primary source of lithium.
Compass Minerals also revealed it is in the final stages of finalizing a partner for lithium extraction, and is already testing options to convert resources to lithium hydroxide used in lithium-ion batteries.
For further details see:
The Big News That Sent Compass Minerals Stock Soaring Today