The Compass Minerals primarily uses a drill and blast mining technique at its North American underground rock salt mines. In addition, it uses continuous mining equipment at its Goderich, Ontario, facility.

Mining machinery moves salt from the salt face to conveyor belts, which transport the salt to the mill center where it is crushed and screened. It is then hoisted to the surface where the processed salt is loaded onto shipping vessels, railcars or trucks.

The Goderich plant has operated since 1867, after an unsuccessful search for oil uncovered a vast bed of rock salt under Goderich.

Using mechanical evaporation, the plant produces high-purity, fine- and coarse-grained salt products in packages and in bulk for commercial, agricultural and industrial applications. The plant also packages rock salt from the mine that is used for deicing and water conditioning.