GSL History

Great Salt Lake Minerals’ success is the result of a unique combination of geology, hydrology, and history.

Some would say the story of GSL began 15,000 years ago when a fresh water lake called Lake Bonneville, then covering parts of Utah, Idaho and Nevada, slowly receded to form what is now the Great Salt Lake. Four rivers and numerous streams carry millions of tons of dissolved minerals into the lake each year. With no outlet, these minerals are trapped and accumulate. Continual evaporation has concentrated the minerals so that the lake now has as high as eight times the mineral content of the ocean.

The lake has provided minerals to Utah and the nation for more than 100 years. Today mineral concentrations in the northwest arm of the lake are twice as high as in the rest of the lake, creating an environment that is less favorable for birds and brine shrimp, but ideal for gathering minerals. In addition, Ogden has been a critical transportation hub since the transcontinental railroad was completed 140 years ago. This allows efficient product distribution to America’s markets.

GSL was established in 1967 when Lithium Corporation of America merged with Gulf Sulfur Corporation to form Gulf Resources and Chemical Corporation. Gulf Resources created a subsidiary called Great Salt Lake Minerals Corporation to gather sulfate of potash specialty fertilizer from the Great Salt Lake. GSL built its first solar evaporation ponds near Ogden in 1967. The processing plant was designed in 1969 and the first shipment of sulfate of potash was delivered in 1970.

In 1992, founder Peter Behrens devised the "Behrens Trench," a unique feat of natural engineering, to utilize the higher mineral concentrations on the lake’s northwest shore. Since brine becomes heavier as it becomes more concentrated through solar evaporation, Behrens created a system for brine to evaporate for a year in west shore ponds, then be carried by gravity across the lake in a special lake-bed trench to the east shore for final evaporation and processing into fertilizer and other all-natural mineral products. This process allowed Great Salt Lake Minerals to grow.

With America’s rising appetite for vegetables, fruit, nuts, and other high-quality, wholesome food crops, growers have required more sulfate of potash specialty fertilizer. Great Salt Lake Minerals has increased fertilizer production to more than 400,000 tons per year, and is planning further increases to meet growers’ needs.

Today, GSL is a key company of Compass Minerals, a worldwide leader in the minerals business with facilities in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.