This Israeli firm ICL developed its activity in Catalonia. protection of administration And criticism from competitors and environmentalists. The burning nail between the eternal conflict between environmental defense and industrial development, potash extraction activity related to ICL huge mountains of salt waste and giant dug mouse traps that can be both a mine and a tourist attraction. It is also the focus of criticism due to the fatal occupational accidents that have occurred in recent years in the context of competition and high-risk industrial activity.
Since it was discovered in the municipality of Potash suriain 1912, bages zone faced with changes in its configuration. Catalan Potash Basin. In 1982 the operating company became the property of the State (Potasas group) and in 1998 it was purchased by a private company under the name Iberpotash for the equivalent of 103.4 million Euros. According to SEPI, ” Potash Group It was proposed as a search for partners that will enable this mining group to develop in terms of competitiveness and profitability, with the contribution of technological, productive and commercial improvements. phoenix blueprintIt needed to strike a balance between the industrial activity of potash extraction and the environmental remediation of the environment degraded by excess salt. However, despite these plans, mines Suria and Sallent They have always been between the trigger of environmental groups and salt producers and the protection of the Administration.
“The courts ruled against it, and the Generalitat looked the other way,” they say in the sources of the ICL rivalry. The main criticism has always been that ICL “takes advantage of tailor-made lawsuits to legalize mining activity by promoting environmental degradation and ultimately promoting the company’s interests.” In return for its industrial activities, ICL, together with the Administration, made a commitment to the gradual restoration of history. Cogulló salt water bedwas started in 1977 to accumulate salty waste from potash extraction. Warehouse closure requires purification of the stored salty material by selling it as a product. Restoration work on this bed is expected to take forty years. For the sale of potash and salt, even a rail line was established with the Port of Barcelona, which included huge beds and fields for loading high-capacity ships, a million-dollar business.
However For every ton of potash in bages, three tons of highly polluting salt residues are produced.That ICL is committed to reducing the already accumulated mountains of salt in exchange for an increase in potash production. The large production of salt in the region has drawn criticism among salt competitors, who see ICL as a competitor of preferential treatment from the Administration and large enough to affect salt prices, but most of the production is designed for low-level industrial. uses (as salt for road maintenance in winter).
illegal activity
And the truth is The industrial agreement with ICL even managed to circumvent a Supreme Court decision in 2015 that deemed IC’s mining activity “illegal”.In the L, Sallent case, after the company and Generalitat appealed against the Catalonian Supreme Court’s decision in October 2003 that revoked the environmental permit granted by the Catalan Government. And the salt mountain of El Cogulló is a non-waterproof airborne dump that, according to all research, continues to pollute the water of Llobregat, which feeds the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
Pressures have always been maintained to stop potash extraction. In 2065, when the concession expires, ecologists think it will not be possible to restore the natural environment, so the concession will have to be extended and ICL will have to build new desalination plants.
The current water scarcity situation and rising energy costs jeopardize salt removal goals. and ICL’s future activities in Catalonia. The company’s balance sheet for the past year confirms this, at least temporarily, with an increase in losses combined with an increase in turnover. Israeli multinational company increased revenue by 36% in 2022 With both volume and price increases in potash, it invested €58 million in Catalan facilities in 2021. . However, the subsidiary suffered a loss of 44 million euros due to the increase in energy costs.