Minister President Bouffier tours the Werra Verbund Plant, learns about the potash district’s economic situation

Minister President Bouffier tours the Werra Verbund Plant, learns about the potash district’s economic situation

KASSEL, 22-Sep-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — Today (20 September 2017) Volker Bouffier, Minister President of Hesse, visited the Werra Verbund plant to get informed about the current economic situation of the potash district and, at the same time, praised the efforts made by the company to make production even more environmentally friendly by using the latest technology. A focal point was progress on conducting a new kainite crystallization and flotation facility (KCF) to further reduce wastewater.

Minister President Bouffier stressed that “The state government of Hesse remains committed to creating a stable environment to safeguard jobs in the Werra potash district. However, we expect K+S to continue to stand by its obligation to deploy innovative processes and technologies to conserve the environment in the future as well.”

The local Bundestag candidate Timo Lübeck said he was pleased that the minister president had accepted his invitation to visit the region. Lübeck said it was “important to have Hesse´s Minister President actually on the ground and that potash miners could always rely on his word. A close dialogue with the Board of Executive Directors, plant management and employees is indispensable.”

Bouffier was informed extensively about the status of work on the new KCF facility, which is to reduce saline wastewater by a further 20 per cent in the future. He also enquired in depth about the extent to which the facilities erected as part of the initial package of water protection measures at the Werra plant sites had fulfilled expectations in practice.

Dr. Burkhard Lohr, chairman of the K+S Board of Executive Directors, stressed that the Werra Verbund plant occupied a firm place in the global K+S Group production network. “The extraction of domestic raw materials and the protection of the environment are compatible with each other. Our new facility will result in further innovations becoming reality. To make this perfectly clear, we are engaged in a close dialogue with political circles, our site local communities as well as environmental associations and civic initiatives,” said Lohr in his closing remarks.

About K+S and Werra Verbund Plant
K+S is an international resources company. We have been mining and processing mineral raw materials for more than 125 years. The products we produce from them are used worldwide in agriculture, food and road safety and are important elements in numerous industrial processes. Potash and salt are integral nutrients for the megatrend of a constantly growing and increasingly prosperous global population striving for a higher standard of living. This will result in increasing consumption of mineral resources. We serve the resulting growth in demand from production sites in Europe, North America and South America as well as through a global distribution network. K+S is the world’s largest salt producer and one of the top potash providers worldwide. With more than 14,000 employees, K+S achieved revenues in financial year 2016 of about € 3.5 billion and an EBIT of € 229 million. Learn more about K+S at www.k-plus-s.com.

The Werra potash plant, with its Hattorf and Wintershall sites in Hesse and at Unterbreizbach and Merkers in Thuringia, is the largest K+S KALI GmbH plant. Alongside fertilizers, the Werra potash plant also produces intermediate products for numerous technical and industrial applications as well as for use in the pharmaceutical, foodstuff and animal feed industries.

The plant employs almost 4,400 people, of whom 300 are trainees. This makes the plant an important employer and training enterprise in the area between the cities of Bad Hersfeld, Bad Salzungen and Eisenach. In addition, it is an important source of work for local medium-sized businesses as well. This makes the plant a key element in the economic and demographic development of the region of eastern Hesse and western Thuringia.

SOURCE: K+S AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

MEDIA CONTACT

Ulrich Göbel
Spokesman German Sites/Group Companies
Phone: +49 561 9301 1722
ulrich.goebel@k-plus-s.com

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