Cargill Inc. said Wednesday that it acquired a Michigan mine and production facility that it will use for salt from Mosaic Co., its former fertilizer company.

Terms weren't disclosed.

Mosaic chiefly used the mine in Hersey, Mich., for potash. But the site holds many minerals and, when the firm decided last November to sell the mine, it promoted its salt holdings.

"This is a well-run facility," Marcelo Montero, president of Cargill Salt, said in a statement. "Hersey gives us an additional location to provide our customers with a variety of quality products. It will also allow us to compete for new business."

Cargill said it will mainly produce salt licks and other agricultural-use products from the facility.

The operation had employed about 80 people under Mosaic and Cargill said it will hire a similar number of people.

Cargill Salt has a production facility at St. Clair, Mich., along with several other locations in the United States and two overseas.

Evan Ramstad