Saltwater troubles hit K+S German site - reports

12 October 2007 15:22  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--German potash firm K+S may see production at a site in the eastern state of Thuringia impacted if it cannot find a long-term solution to dispose of salty waste water byproduct, potentially threatening hundreds of jobs, German media reported on Friday.

 

The reports, quoting a K+S spokesman, said the company was looking at underground storage as an interim solution, to be replaced later with a pipeline that would pump the waste water into the Werra river.

 

Environmentalists, led by Germany's BUND association, were opposed to K+S' proposals, the reports said.

 

A spokesman at K+S headquarters in Kassel, Germany, could not be reached for comment on Friday.

 

A spokesperson at Thuringia’s state environment ministry said K+S, the ministry and local communities were trying to find a solution to ensure that both the environment and jobs at the Unterbreizbach potash site would be protected.

 

In a speech to shareholders earlier this year, former K+S chief executive Ralf Bethke defended the pipeline project as a necessary measure and added that potash production involved thousands of jobs.

 

Bethke retired in June and was succeeded by Norbert Steiner.

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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