Salt is Compass Minerals' true north. The company is one of the largest salt producers in North America. Its salt products include rock, evaporated, and solar salt and are used for applications such as water softening, road deicing, and food preparation. Highway deicing salt -- generally sold to state, province, or municipal governments -- accounts for almost half of its annual sales. Compass Minerals operates through subsidiaries North American Salt, Great Salt Lake Minerals (a top producer of the crop nutrient sulfate of potash), Sifto Canada, and Salt Union (based in the UK). It has 11 production and packaging facilities and operates a number of salt mines in Canada, the UK, and the US.