19 August 2016

Interim storage of saline wastewater underground:

Yesterday, the Thuringia State Mining Authority granted the Company approval for the temporary storage of up to 200,000 cubic meters of process water from the Unterbreizbach site at the nearby Springen (Thuringia) mining field. This means that the Unterbreizbach site will now be able to start producing again.

For the two Werra plant sites in Hesse to become fully operational, K+S will still require further permits to be able to dispose production wastewater.

Interim storage at the Springen mining field will enable production of potash fertilizers to be resumed at the Unterbreizbach factory despite of having only limited possibilities at the present time for the processing of saline solutions at the Wintershall site. In addition, the resumption of production will also facilitate the continued elimination of mining-related pre-existing environmental damage by means of backfilling in the northern field of the Merkers mine.

The Unterbreizbach site relaunched production on 13 August 2016 following the completion of scheduled repairs. Production at the Wintershall site is currently still suspended for repair work and will resume on 22 August 2016. Because of limited possibilities for deep-well injection and the continued low water flow of the Werra, the Hattorf site was unable to resume production - with the exception of Epsom salt production - following the completion of repair work on 29 July 2016. The employees affected by the suspension of operations there are currently on short-time working.

About K+S KALI GmbH

K+S KALI GmbH with its headquarters in Kassel mines crude salts containing potassium, magnesium and sulfur in six mines in Germany. A wide range of fertilizer specialties and intermediate products for many different technical, industrial and pharmaceutical applications is produced from them. K+S KALI GmbH is one of the leading suppliers of potash and magnesium products worldwide. The company, which belongs to the K+S Group, employs more than 8,000 people. More information about K+S KALI GmbH can be found on the company's website at www.kali-gmbh.com.


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K+S AG published this content on 19 August 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 19 August 2016 12:05:05 UTC.

Original documenthttp://www.k-plus-s.com/en/news/presseinformationen/2016/presse-160819.html

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