Report of Independent Registered Public
Accounting Firm
To the Board of Directors and Shareholders
Compass Minerals International, Inc. (formerly
Salt Holdings Corporation)
We have audited the accompanying combined and
consolidated statements of operations, stockholders’ equity
(deficit), and cash flows of Compass Minerals International,
Inc. (formerly Salt Holdings Corporation) for the year ended
December 31, 2001. Our audit also included the financial
statement schedule for the year ended December 31, 2001
listed in the Index at Item 15(a)(2). These financial
statements and schedule are the responsibility of the
Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an
opinion on these financial statements and schedule based on our
audit.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the
standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(United States). Those standards require that we plan and
perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether
the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An
audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting
the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An
audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and
significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating
the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that
our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
In our opinion, the financial statements referred
to above present fairly, in all material respects, the combined
and consolidated results of operations and cash flows of Compass
Minerals International, Inc. (formerly Salt Holdings
Corporation) for the year ended December 31, 2001, in
conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Also, in our opinion, the related financial statement schedule
for the year ended December 31, 2001, when considered in
relation to the basic financial statements taken as a whole,
presents fairly in all material respects the information set
forth therein.
As described under the heading
“Restatement” in Note 1, the combined and consolidated
financial statements have been restated for the year ended
December 31, 2001.
/s/ Ernst & Young LLP
Kansas City, Missouri
December 9, 2002, except for Note 13,
for which the date is May 8, 2003,
except for Note 16, for which the date
is November 3, 2003, except for Note 15,
for which the date is December 11, 2003, and
except for the matter disclosed under the heading
“Restatement” in Note 1, for which the
date is
November 10, 2004
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